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JOHN  WILLIAM  PYE 
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TICKNOR  AND  FIELDS 


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AMERICAN  JUVENILE  BIOGRAPHY, 

VOL.  1. 


“  Is  this  true,”  is  a  question  often  ashed  by 
a  child,  after  reading  a  story.  Perhaps  it  is 
well,  sometimes,  to  be  able  to  answer  this 
question  in  the  affirmative.  If  it  is  possible 
to  relate  the  history  of  remarkable  persons  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  interest  the  young,  such 
stories  may  create  a  better  taste  in  reading  than 
that  which  is  formed  by  the  constant  perusal 
of  fiction,  which  is  now  employed  not  only  in 
works  intended  for  relaxation  and  amusement, 
but  as  a  vehicle  to  circulate  the  deepest 
principles  of  philosophy  and  religion.  This 
volume  is  intended  as  the  first  of  a  series  of 
the  lives  of  distinguished  persons,  adapted  to 
the  understanding  of  the  young. 

Boston,  Sept.,  1839. 


. 


/ 


. 


V 


;• 

* 


* 


,  ■ 


•  •  - 

•  * 


. 


See  p  144. 


JONAS’S  STORIES; 

RELATED  TO 


ROLLO  AND  LUCY. 


BY  THE 


AUTHOR  OF  THE  ROLLO  BOOKS. 

p-  >  \ 

\  CALC*#, D  >  !•> 


BOSTON: 

WILLIAM  D .  TICKNOR. 

1839. 


Entered  according'  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839, 
By  T.  II.  Carter, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE 
BOSTON  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY. 


PREFATORY  NOTICE. 


These  Stories  of  Jonas,  having  been 
related  to  Rollo  and  Lucy  together,  are 
intended  both  for  boys  and  girls.  It  is 
hoped  that,  in  all  of  them,  the  parent  or 
teacher,  who  may  run  his  eye  over  the 
book,  will  find  a  useful  tendency.  The 
aim  of  the  writer  has  been  to  cultivate 
habits  of  clear  discrimination,  sound 
reasoning,  and  correct  judgment  on  the 
common  subjects  of  interest  to  childhood, 
and  to  develop  the  gentle  and  amiable 
feelings  of  the  heart. 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

THE  JOURNEY .  9 

THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY .  15 

THE  aUESTION . * .  44 

SOBER  JOHN .  55 

THE  PREVARICATION  STORY .  70 

GOING  TO  COURT . .  83 

THE  TRIAL .  92 

TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA.— JACK’S  WAY .  117 

TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA.— JOHN’S  WAY .  142 

AN  EXPERIMENT .  162 

FENCES .  168 

i  '  .  '  '  '  ,  *  / 


1 


JONAS’S  STORIES. 


1  V 

THE  JOURNEY. 

One  summer,  when  Rollo  was  about  eight 
years  old,  his  father  and  mother  concluded 
to  take  a  long  journey  through  the  interior 
of  the  country.  A  good  deal  of  the  road 
over  which  they  were  to  travel  lay  in  a 
wild,  solitary  region  of  forests  and  moun¬ 
tains,  through  which  it  would  be  necessary 
to  travel  very  slowly.  Rollo  had  learned 
the  art,  which  children  are  generally  very 
slow  to  learn,  of  not  being  troublesome 
when  riding ;  and  so  his  mother  inquired  if 
there  was  not  some  way  of  taking  him  with 
them.  After  some  consultation  and  planning, 
they  finally  determined  to  enlarge  their 
original  design,  and  take  the  whole  family, 
except  little  Nathan. 

Rollo’s  father  accordingly  procured  what, 


12 


THE  JOURNEY. 


in  that  part  of  the  country,  was  called  a 
carryall.  It  was  a  light,  four-wheeled  ve¬ 
hicle,  with  two  seats.  It  had  a  large  glass 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  door  on  each  side, 
and  leather  curtains  all  around  except  in 
front,  so  that  it  could  be  shut  in  very  se¬ 
curely,  in  case  of  bad  weather.  Jonas  was 
to  drive  the  wagon  behind,  with  two  or 
three  trunks,  and  the  other  baggage.  Rol¬ 
lo ’s  father  adopted  this  plan  for  three 
reasons.  He  wanted  Jonas’s  help  about 
the  business  for  which  he  undertook  the 
journey ;  he  thought  also  that  they  should 
travel  more  conveniently  by  having  the 
baggage  go  in  a  separate  conveyance,  and 
then  it  would  often  be  of  advantage  to  have 


Jonas’s  services  on  the  way,  in  looking  after 
the  horses,  the  baggage,  &c.,  and  in  waiting^gQ 
upon  them  all  at  the  inns.  r .  . . 

Rollo  and  his  sister  Mary  were  to  ride  in  w 
the  carryall  with  their  father  and  mother  ; 
and  as  Rollo  was  small,  and  did  not  take  up 
more  than  half  a  seat,  they  concluded  to 
invite  his  cousin  Lucy  to  go  too.  She  was 
very  glad  to  accept  the  invitation. 

The  arrangements  were  all  made  accord¬ 
ingly,  and  one  pleasant  morning  in  June, 


THE  JOURNEY. 


13 


the  carryall  and  the  wagon  came  to  the  door ; 
the  baggage  was  put  in,  and  snugly  stowed 
by  Jonas  in  the  wagon,  all  but  a  few  light 
articles,  which  he  put  under  the  seats  in  the 
carryall.  Presently  all  the  party  took  their 
seats,  Jonas  locking  the  door  last,  and 
putting  the  key  in  his  pocket,  that  he  might 
leave  it  at  one  of  the  neighbors’  until  they 
should  return.  Rollo  and  Lucy  were  in 
high  glee  ;  and  in  fact  Rollo  was  rather  noisy 
in  his  joy,  until  his  mother  spoke  to  him, 
and  then  he  was  more  quiet. 

They  went  on  very  prosperously ;  and 
sometimes  Rollo  and  Lucy  used  to  go  and 
ride  in  Jonas’s  wagon.  They  liked  this 
better  than  riding  in  the  carryall,  because 
they  could  see  out  better  ;  for  the  wagon  was 
not  covered  at  all.  In  such  cases,  Jonas  let 
fhem  sit  upon  the  seat,  which  had  a  buffalo 
skin  spread  over  it  in  place  of  a  cushion; 
and  he  himself  would  sit  upon  the  end  of  a 
leather  trunk,  which  was  placed  under  the 
seat,  in  such  a  manner  that  one  end  projected 
just  far  enough  in  front  of  it  to  make  a 
good  cricket  for  Jonas  to  sit  upon  and  drive. 
So  the  children  had  good  accommodations 
in  the  wagon,  and  they  liked  it  very  much, 

2 


14 


THE  JOURNEY. 


and  Rollo’s  father  liked  to  have  them  ride 
there  sometimes,  for  it  divided  the  load 
better,  as  he  said,  between  the  horses. 

Now  it  happened  that  Jonas  was  a  capital 
hand  to  tell  stories ;  and  he  had  a  little 
time  before  agreed  to  tell  some  stories  to 
Rollo,  at  some  drawing  lessons  which  they 
were  going  to  take  together ;  but  on  trying 
it,  they  found  they  needed  all  their  attention 
for  their  drawing  j  and  now  it  was  concluded 
that  Jonas  should  tell  stories  on  this  journey 
instead.  So,  whenever  it  was  convenient 
for  Rollo  and  Lucy  to  ride  in  his  wagon,  he 
beguiled  the  way  in  this  manner,  as  they 
slowly  toiled  up  the  hills  and  through  the 
forests,  or  pursued  their  solitary  way  among 
the  rough  defiles  of  the  mountains.  Jonas’s 
first  story  was  The  Fisherman’s  Boy. 


t  v»4' 

4  4  *  rV*-  <  *  '* 

A'  « 


15 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 


“  Once  there  was  a  fisherman.  He  lived 
in  a  little  hut  which  was  huilt  against  thE 
rocks  in  a  small  bay  near  the  sea-shore. 
There  was  a  small,  sandy  beach  right  before 
his  house,  a  very  smooth  and  pretty  beach, 
where  the  fisherman  used  to  draw  up  his 
little  boat  when  he  came  in  from  fishing.5’ 

“  Did  he  have  more  than  one  boat  ? 55  said 
Lucy. 

“  Yes,”  replied  Jonas,  “  he  had  two,  one 
pretty  large  boat  with  a  mast,  and  one 
smaller  one.  The  large  one  he  always  an¬ 
chored  off  in  the  bay,  a  little  way  from 
shore,  and  then  came  to  the  beach  in  his 
little  boat,  which  he  then  drew  up  out  of 
the  way  of  the  tide.” 

“  How  high  did  the  tide  rise  ?  ”  asked 
Rollo. 

“  O,  so  as  almost  to  cover  the  beach. 
When  it  was  high  tide,  as  it  was  twice 
every  day,  there  was  only  a  narrow  strip 
of  sand  between  the  water  and  the  grass. 

►  *  mm  \ 


16  THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

When  the  tide  was  down,  the  beach  was 
very  broad,  and  the  lower  edge  of  it  was 
very  wet,  and  rather  stony  ;  and  then  little 
Jock  couldn’t  sail  his  boats  very  well.” 

“  Little  Jock  ?  ”  said  Rollo  and  Lucy  both 
at  once  ;  “  who  was  little  Jock  ?  ” 

“  O,  little  Jock  was  the  fisherman’s  boy. 
He  was  about  seven  years  old,  and  he  was 
a  capital  little  fellow  too.  One  pleasant 
morning,  he  asked  his  father  to  let  him  go 
out  a-fishing  with  him. 

“  1  Go  out  a-fishing  ?  5  said  his  father  ; 
1  what  good  could  you  do  ?  ’ 

“  1  O,  father,’  said  Jock,  1  I  can  catch 
fishes.  I  can  pull  ’em  up.’  And  here  he 
began  to  make  signs  as  if  he  was  pulling  a 
fishing-line  out  of  water,  hand  over  hand. 
1  If  you  will  just  get  ’em  hooked  on  for  me, 
I’ll  pull  ’em  up.’ 

“  His  father  laughed  a  little  at  this,  and 
finally  he  said  he  might  go.  So  Jock  ran 
capering  down  to  the  little  boat,  which  was 
almost  afloat,  with  its  bows  just  resting  a 
little  upon  the  beach.” 

“  But  I  thought  you  said  he  always  pulled 
his  little  boat  out  of  the  water?  ”  said  Lucy. 

“So  he  did ;  that  is,  he  always  pulled  it 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY.  17 

up  so  high  that  they  could  get  into  it  at 
high  tide.  It  was  high  tide  now,  and  so  the 
boat  was  almost  afloat.  But  the  painter  was 
fastened  to  a  stake  farther  still  upon  the 
shore  ;  so  it  was  secure.” 

“  What  is  the  painter  ?  ”  said  Lucy. 

“  A  rope  fastened  to  a  ring  in  the  bows  of 
the  boat.  They  always  call  it  the  painter .” 

“  What  a  funny  name  !  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Jock,”  continued  Jonas,  “  got  into  the 
little  boat,  and  took  up  the  boat-hook.  Do 
you  know  what  a  boat-hook  is?  ”  said  he. 

“  No,”  said  Lucy. 

“  It  is  a  long  pole,  with  a  spike  and  a  hook 
in  one  end  of  it,  to  push  against  the  bottom, 
or  to  fend  off  from  the  rocks,  when  they 
come  too  near  the  shore  ;  or  to  hook  up  any 
thing  which  has  fallen  overboard,  or  which 
is  found  floating  in  the  water.  A  boat-hook 
is  a  very  handy  thing  on  board  a  boat.” 

“  Yes,”  said  Rollo  ;  “well,  what  did  Jock 
do  with  his  boat-hook  ?  ” 

“  O,  he  began  pushing  against  the  bottom, 
and  that  made  the  stern  of  the  boat,  that  is, 
the  after  part,  move  in  the  water  from  side  to 
side.  Jock  had  often  done  this  before,  when 
the  tide  was  up  so  as  to  float  the  boat.  He 

2* 


18 


THE  FISHERMAN  S  BOY. 


called  it  sailing  ;  but  he  could  net  sail  so, 
long,  for  the  tide  would  soon  ebb  away,  and 
leave  him  hard  aground.” 

u  What  time  in  the  day  was  it  high 
tide  ?  55  said  Lucy. 

“  O,  different  times,  on  different  days.  It 
was  high  tide  an  hour  later  every  day.  Well, 
as  I  was  saying,  Jock  was  pushing  his  boat 
about,  waiting  for  his  father  ;  and  presently 
he  called  out, 

u  e  Come,  father,  come  ;  I’m  sailing.  If 
you  don’t  come  quick,  I  shall  be  gone.5 

u  His  father  laughed,  and  came  along  with 
some  lines  in  one  hand,  and  a  sort  of  a  bag 
in  the  other.55 

“  What  was  in  the  bag  ? 55  said  Rollo. 

u  Some  bread  and  cheese,  and  a  little  keg 
of  water  to  drink.  They  always  have  to 
carry  water  on  the  sea,  for  the  sea-water  is 
salt,  and  not  good  to  drink. 

“  So  the  fisherman  came  down,  and  put 
his  lines  and  his  bag  into  the  boat,  and  then 
cast  off  the  painter  from  the  stake,  and  after 
giving  the  boat  a  slight  shove  off  from  the 
land,  he  stepped  in  himself,  and  Jock  began 
to  shove  off  with  his  boat-hook. 

6  Now,  father,5  says  Jock,  1  you  sit  still, 


19 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

and  I  will  navigate  you  out  to  the  Blue¬ 
bird.’  ” 

“  The  Bluebird  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “that  was  the  name 
of  the  fisherman’s  large  boat,  which  was 
floating  out  in  the  little  bay,  a  few  fathoms 
from  the  shore.  The  little  boat  was  only 
fit  to  paddle  about  in  near  the  shore  ;  but 
the  Bluebird  had  a  mast  and  sail,  and  was 
pretty  large  and  strong,  and  could  bear  up 
against  pretty  heavy  waves. 

“  So  Jock  tried  to  shove  the  little  boat  out 
to  the  Bluebird ;  but  it  only  went  round  and 
round,  this  way  and  that,  until  his  father 
took  up  an  oar,  and  putting  it  out  behind, 
began  to  scull.” 

“  Scull  ?  ”  said  Rollo  ;  “  what  is  that  ?  ” 

“  O,  it  is  working  the  oar  back  and  forth 
in  a  curious  way,  so  as  to  send  the  boat 
ahead.  When  they  got  pretty  near  the 
Bluebird,  the  fisherman  told  Jock  to  take  in 
his  boat-hook  ;  and  then  he  brought  the  boat 
up  handsomely  alongside  the  Bluebird,  to 
leeward.” 

Jonas  pronounced  the  word  leeward  as  if  it 
had  been  spelled  loo-ard ,  which  is  the  proper 
way  to  pronounce  it. 


20 


THE  FISHERMAN  S  BOY. 


“You  have  so  many  sea  phrases  in  your 
story,  Jonas,  that  I  can’t  understand  it  very 
well,”  said  Lucy. 

u  Can’t  you  ?  ”  said  Jonas.  “  But  I  don’t 
see  how  I  can  tell  this  story  very  well  with¬ 
out  the  sea  phrases ;  though  I  can  explain 
them  as  I  go  along  ;  and  it  will  be  useful  for 
you  to  understand  them.” 

“  Very  well,”  said  Lucy,  “  go  on;  but 
what  do  you  mean  by  leeward  ?  ” 

“  Why,  when  a  vessel  or  a  boat  is  out 
upon  the  water,  there  is  one  side  that  the 
wind  blows  upon,  and  the  waves,  if  there 
are  any,  dash  up  on  that  side  ;  but  round  on 
the  opposite  side  it  is  sheltered,  and  there 
the  water  is  smoother.  The  side  towards 
the  wind  is  called  to  windward ,  and  the  other 
to  leeivard.  Now,  here  in  this  wagon,” 
continued  Jonas,  pointing  out  on  one  side, 
u  the  wind  is  blowing  in  upon  us  here,  and 
this  is  to  windward ;  and  here,  on  the 
other  side,  it  is  to  leeward.  It  makes  no 
difference  on  which  side  you  get  into  a 
wagon;  but  it  is  generally  much  easier  to 
get  into  a  vessel  from  the  leeward. 

“  The  Bluebird  was  moored  to  a  buoy 
which  the  fisherman  had  fixed  there  in  the 


21 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

water.  This  buoy  was  a  small,  round  beam 
of  wood,  with  a  rope  fastened  to  one  end. 
The  other  end  of  this  rope  was  tied  strong 
round  a  stone,  —  a  large  stone  which  was 
sunk  to  the  bottom  ;  and  so  the  buoy  could 
not  get  away ;  but  there  it  floated,  lifting  its 
head  high  out  of  water.” 

“  Why,  how  could  it  do  that  ?  ”  said 
Rollo. 

“  Why,  you  see,  the  rope  was  made  a 
little  too  short  to  reach  to  the  top  of  the 
water,  and  that  drew  the  lower  end  of  the 
buoy  under,  and  raised  the  other  end.  The 
fisherman  painted  the  upper  end  of  the  buoy 
white,  so  that  he  could  see  it  more  easily  in 
the  dark  ;  and  he  cut  the  shape  of  a  dog’s 
head  on  the  end,  and  called  it  his  watch¬ 
dog  Lookout,  to  watch  the  tides.” 

“  To  watch  the  tides?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “he  would  watch  the 
tides,  and  tell  when  it  was  high  or  when  it 
was  low.” 

“  How  could  he  ?  ”  asked  Lucy. 

“  Why,  you  see  the  rope  was  short,  and 
drew  one  end  of  the  buoy  under  water  ;  and 
so,  when  the  tide  rose  high,  it  made  the 
rope  a  good  deal  too  short,  and  that  drew  the 


22 


THE  FISHERMaN*S  BOY. 


lower  end  a  good  deal  under  the  water,  and 
made  the  other  end  lift  up  higher.  Then, 
when  the  tide  went  down,  old  Lookout  would 
gradually  lie  down  again  too.  So  that  they 
could  always  tell,  by  looking  at  the  old  watch 
dog,  how  high  the  tide  was.  Besides  that, 
he  would  tell  them  whether  it  was  ebb  or 
flood.” 

“  Ebb  or  flood  ?  ”  inquired  Lucy. 

“  Yes ;  that  is,  whether  the  tide  was  coming 
in  or  going  out.  When  the  tide  is  flowing 
in,  it  is  called  flood  tide,  all  the  time  from 
when  it  first  begins  to  come  in,  until  the 
bay  is  full :  then  it  is  high  tide.  Very  soon 
it  begins  to  ebb,  that  is,  to  run  out  again ;  and 
it  is  called  ebb  tide  until  it  is  all  out,  and 
then  it  is  low  tide  again.” 

u  But  how  could  the  buoy  tell,”  said 
Rollo,  “  whether  the  tide  was  coming  in  or 
going  out  ?  ” 

“  Why,  it  was  confined,  you  see,  only  at 
one  end,  and  so  the  tide,  when  it  was  coming 
in,  or  going  out,  carried  otf  the  upper  end  of 
the  buoy,  so  as  to  make  old  Lookout’s  head 
point  the  way  the  tide  was  going.  When 
the  tide  was  coming  in,  old  Lookout  turned 
his  head  towards  the  head  of  the  bay ;  and 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY.  25 

then,  when  it  ebbed,  he  would  lean  over 
towards  the  sea,  and  look  off  as  if  he  wanted 
to  go  out  too. 

“  There  was  a  small  iron  ring  fastened  to 
Lookout,  just  under  one  of  his  ears.  The 
Bluebird  was  fastened  to  this  ring,  by  means 
of  a  rope.  The  fisherman  helped  Jock  up 
into  the  large  boat,  and  then  cast  off  from 
the  ring.  Jock  sat  down  upon  one  of  the 
thwarts,  near  the  mast.” 

“  Thwarts  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Yes  ;  —  seats,  placed  across  the  boat 
from  side  to  side.  Jock  sat  down  upon  one 
of  these  seats,  and  the  fisherman  began  to 
make  sail.” 

“  Make  sails?  ”  said  Rollo  ;  “  were  not  his 
sails  made  yet  ?  ” 

“  I  did  not  say  make  his  sails”  said  Jonas, 
“  but  make  sail ;  that  is,  hoist  his  sails.  They 
always  call  it  making  sail.  The  fisherman 
then  went  to  the  stern  of  the  boat,  and  took 
the  helm,  and  as  soon  as  the  sails  filled,  and 
she  got  a  little  way  on  her,  he  put  her  head 
round,  and  stood  out  to  sea. 

“  It  was  a  fine  summer’s  day,  and  there 
were  a  pleasant  breeze  and  a  smooth  sea. 
The  Bluebird  glided  along  beautifully  over 

3 


28  the  fisherman's  boy*. 

the  water,  heeling  a  little  to  port,  for  the 
wind  was  on  the  starboard  beam.” 

“  O  dear  me  !  ”  said  Lucy,  with  a  long 
sigh  ;  “  I  can’t  understand  one  word  you  say.” 

“  Can’t  you  ?  ”  said  Jonas.  “  What, 
haven’t  you  understood  the  story  so  far  ?  ” 

“  Why,  yes,”  said  she,  “  so  far ;  but  it 
grows  harder  and  harder  to  understand.” 

“Well,  perhaps  I  had  better  leave  off  this 
story,  and  try  to  tell  another.” 

u  O  no,”  said  Rollo,  “  I  went  to  hear  the 
rest  of  this  very  much.  You  can  explain  it 
to  us  as  you  go  along.” 

“  You  will  understand  it  better  pretty 
soon,”  said  Jonas,  “for  I  was  going  to  tell 
you  how  the  fisherman  explained  about  the 
boat  to  Jock.  After  they  had  sailed  along  a 
little  way,  ‘  Jock,’  said  he,  ‘  while  we  are 
making  our  offing,  I  think  I  will  give  you 
a  talk  about  boat-service.  It  will  be  worth 
a  day’s  schooling,  if  you  listen  well.’ 

“  ‘  Well,’  said  Jock,  c  I  should  like  to  hear.’ 
“  Then  the  fisherman,  after  trimming  his 
sails  a  little  more  exactly,  and  taking  a  good 
lookout  ahead,  began  thus : — 

“  ‘  The  for’ard  part  of  the  boat  is  called 
the  bows,  and  the  hind  part  here,  where  I  am 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 


27 


sitting,  is  called  the  stern.  That  you  knew 
already.’ 

“  ‘  Yes,  father.’ 

“  ‘  The  sides  of  the  boat  are  named,  as 
well  as  the  ends,’  continued  the  fisherman. 
‘  This  side  on  the  right  is  called  the  star¬ 
board  side,  and  this  one  on  the  left  is  called 
the  larboard  side.  Remember  that,  will  you, 
boy  ?  ’ 

“Yes,  father,  I’ll  try.  Starboard  is  right, 
and  larboard  is  left.’ 

“  ‘  Ay,  ay,  Jock,  that  is  it  exactly.  The 
larboard  side*of  the  boat,  near  the  bows,  is 
called  the  larboard  bow  ;  near  the  stern,  it  is 
called  the  larboard  quarter;  and  so  on  the 
other  side,  it  is  called  the#  starboard  boic,  and 
starboard  quarter.  So,  if  you  look  out  of  a 
boat,  or  a  vessel,  nearly  for’ard,  but  a  little 
to  the  left,  and  should  see  any  thing  there, 
you  would  say  it  was  on  the  larboard  bow.' 

“  Here  Jock  looked  out  in  the  direction 
which  his  father  had  named,  and  said,  1 1  do 
see  something  on  the  larboard  bow,  father.’ 

“  ‘  What  is  it  ?  ’  said  his  father. 

“  1  A  gull.’ 

“  The  fisherman  looked,  and  saw  it.” 

“  Just  at  that  moment,  the  gull  was  fright- 


28 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 


ened  at  seeing  the  boat  coming  on,  and  he 
flapped  his  wings,  and  rose  slowly  from  the 
water.  Jock  watched  him.  He  wheeled 
around  in  the  air  over  their  heads,  and  then 
finally  went  down  again  towards  the  water, 
and  lighted  in  the  bay  away  behind  them, 
and  yet  not  exactly  behind  them,  but  con¬ 
siderably  to  the  left. 

44  4  There,  where  is  he  now  ?  ’  said  the 
fisherman. 

44  4  He  is  on  the  larboard  quarter ,’  said  Jock. 

4  4  4  Right,’  said  the  fisherman.  4  You’re 
a  pretty  good  scholar.  If  lie  had  lighted  on 
one  side  of  us  here,  to  the  left,  about  off  op¬ 
posite  to  us,  we  should  call  that  on  the  lar¬ 
board  beam ;  because  it  is  where  the  beams 
of  a  vessel  point,  which  go  across  from  side 
to  side.’ 

4  4  4  And  off  on  the  other  side  is  on  the  , 
starboard  beam,  I  suppose,’  said  Jock. 

4  4  4  Yes,’  said  the  fisherman  ;  4  and  if  any 
thing  is  right  before  us,  it  is  ahead ,  and  if 
it  is  right  behind  us,  it  is  astern.  Now,  Jock, 
you  stand  up,  and  take  a  look  all  around, 
and  tell  me  what  you  see,  in  all  these  di¬ 
rections.’ 

4  4  4  Where  shall  I  begin  ?  ’  said  Jock. 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY.  29 

“  1  Begin  right  ahead,’  said  his  father. 

“  So  Jock  stood  up  on  the  thwart,  and 
began  to  look  for’ard,  and  described  what 
he  saw,  thus  : 

“  ‘  There  is  nothing  right  ahead  but  water.’ 
Then  he  turned  a  little  to  the  left,  and  said, 
£  On  the  larboard  bow,  I  see  some  rocks  and  a 
point  of  land.  On  the  larboard  beam  is  the 
shore.  Then  next  comes  the  larboard  quar¬ 
ter,  where  I  see  our  house  and  the  beach. 

“  £  Directly  behind  us  ’ — 

“  ‘  No,  not  behind  us  ;  astern ,  you  mean,’ 
said  the  fisherman. 

“  ‘  Yes,  astern,  I  see  the  buoy,  and  our 
little  boat  fastened  to  it,  and  the  land  beyond. 
On  the  starboard  quarter,  there  is  water  and 
land  beyond ;  on  the  starboard  beam,  the 
same  ;  on  the  starboard  bow,  there  are  rocks  ; 
and  that  brings  me  round  to  right  ahead 
again,  where  I  began,  and  where  there  is 
nothing  but  water.  —  Yes,  there  is,’  he  con¬ 
tinued,  after  a  moment’s  pause  ;  ‘  I  see  a 

sail-boat  out  in  the  offing,  right  ahead.’ 

“  ‘  Let  me  see,’  said  the  fisherman  ;  and  he 
leaned  his  head  to  one  side,  to  see  clear  of 
the  mast  and  sail. 

“  It  was  a  large  ship,  instead  of  a  sail-boat; 

3  * 


30 


THE  FISHERMAN'S  ROY. 


but  it  was  so  far  off,  that  it  looked  very 
small,  and  so  Jock  thought  it  was  a  boat. 
The  fisherman  knew  that  it  was  a  ship  sail¬ 
ing  along  the  coast,  and  he  knew  also  that 
she  was  going  in  such  a  direction,  that  the 
wind  was  ahead  to  her,  though  to  the  Blue¬ 
bird  it  was  on  the  starboard  beam.7’ 

“Now  I  remember  you  told  us  so  some 
time  before,77  said  Lucy,  “  and  I  did  not 
understand  it  then ;  but  now  I  know  from 
what  the  fisherman  said.77 

“Yes,  it  means  that  the  wind  blew  right 
across  the  boat,  from  the  starboard  side,  and 
I  told  you  that  made  her  heel  to  port.77 

“  Heel  to  port ! 77  said  Lucy,  laughing, 
“  what  is  that  ? 77 

“  Heel  l  that  is  lean  over  ;  and  to  port  is 
to  larboard.” 

“Why  don’t  they  say  to  larboard  then?77 
said  Rollo. 

“  No,  why  don’t  they  say  to  the  left ,  and 
done  with  it?77  said  Lucy,  “and  then  we 
should  understand.  If  you  would  tell  us 
plainly  that  the  wind  blew  on  the  right  side, 
and  made  the  boat  lean  over  to  the  left  side, 
then  we  should  understand j  but  instead  of 
that  you  tell  us  the  wind  was  on  the  star- 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY.  31 

board  beam,  and  that  made  her  heel  to 
port !  ” 

Here  Rollo  and  Lucy  burst  into  a  loud  fit 
of  laughter  at  the  absurdity  of  sea  language. 
Jonas  smiled,  and  waited  patiently  until  they 
had  become  still ;  and  then  he  said, 

ct  All  I  know  about  it  is,  that  is  the  way 
the  sailors  do  talk.” 

‘‘How  do  you  know?”  said  Lucy. 

“  O,  I  have  been  to  sea,”  said  Jonas. 

“  When  was  it  ?  ”  asked  Lucy. 

“ Never  mind  that  now,”  said  Rollo;  “I 
want  to  hear  the  rest  of  this  story.” 

“  Well,”  said  Jonas,  “they  went  on  pros¬ 
perously  until  they  came  to  the  fishing- 
ground  and  began  to  fish.  They  anchored 
the  boat,  and  fished  for  some  time,  and  the 
fisherman  let  Jock  pull  up  some  of  the  fishes. 
They  were  a  good  many  miles  from  the  land  ; 
but  Jock  was  not  afraid,  for  the  water  was 
very  smooth  and  still.  In  fact  the  wind  all 
died  away  ;  and  in  consequence  of  it  the  ship 
could  not  get  along,  but  she  lay  still  upon 
the  water,  about  two  miles  from  them,  out  to 
sea,  the  great  sails  hanging  idly  against  the 
masts.  Jock  asked  his  father  how  they  were 
going  to  get  home  without  any  wind ;  and  his 


32 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 


father  told  him  that  he  had  no  doubt  there 
would  he  a  breeze  before  night. 

“  The  afternoon  passed  away,  however, 
with  scarcely  a  breath  of  air.  The  ship 
grew  gradually  smaller  and  smaller  during 
the  middle  of  the  day,  because  she  gradually 
worked  olf  from  the  land ;  but  in  the  after¬ 
noon  the  tide  set  in  towards  shore,  and  she 
slowly  drifted  back  again,  until  at  length 
she  approached  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
boat.  When  the  sun  was  about  two  hours 
high,  the  fisherman  drew  in  his  lines,  and 
hoisted  his  sail  again  to  go  home,  — the 
bottom  of  his  boat  being  filled  with  fishes. 

iC  As  the  boat  came  round,  Jock  had  the 
ship  in  full  view  on  the  starboard  beam. 
The  ship  had  three  masts,  and  a  great  many 
ropes  and  sails ;  and  as  the  wind,  what  little 
there  was,  was  blowing  in  now  towards  the 
shore,  she  was  to  windward  of  the  boat.  Jock 
had  time  to  look  at  her  leisurely,  for  the  boat 
moved  very  slowly  ;  and  presently  he  heard 
a  loud  voice,  calling  out  from  the  ship, 

u  1  Boat  ahoi  !  ’ 5; 

“  The  fisherman  rose  in  the  stern  of  the 
boat,  and  answered  to  the  call.  He  found 
that  they  wanted  him  to  go  on  board  the 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 


33 


ship,  and  sell  them  some  fish.  The  fisher¬ 
man  was  very  glad  to  sell  some  of  his  fish, 
because  he  wanted  the  money ;  but  the  ship 
was  some  distance  off,  and  as  she  lay  dead 
to  windward,  he  could  not  think  of  sailing 
there  ;  so  he  took  in  his  sail,  and  put  out  a 
couple  of  oars,  one  on  each  side,  and  began 
to  pull  for  the  ship. 

“  Jock  and  his  father  had  now  exchanged 
seats ;  for  the  fisherman  himself  took  his 
place  upon  one  of  the  thwarts,  to  row,  and 
so  Jock  went  to  the  helm.  He  sat  down 
and  took  hold  of  the  tiller.” 

“  What  is  the  tiller  ?  ”  asked  Rollo. 

“  It  is  the  handle  of  the  rudder,  that  you 
steer  by.  So  Jock  took  hold  of  the  handle 
of  the  rudder,  and  asked  his  father  if  he 
might  steer.” 

“‘Yes,’  said  the  fisherman.  ‘  Look  out 
well,  and  keep  her  head  exactly  towards  the 
ship.  ’ 

“So  Jock  took  the  helm,  and  began  to 
steer  ;  he  found  if  he  put  the  helm  one  way, 
the  head  of  the  boat  immediately  went  the 
other  ;  and  so  he  soon  learned  to  put  the 
helm  the  contrary  way  to  that  which  he 
wished  to  turn  the  boat  to.  By  and  by  he 
said, 


34 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 


u  1  Father,  we  are  coming  up  pretty  near 
the  ship ;  how  shall  I  stop  ?  or  we  shall 
run  against  her.’ 

“  The  fisherman  looked  over  his  shoulder, 
—  for  you  know,  in  rowing,  a  man  sits  back¬ 
wards, —  and  then  said, 

u  ‘  I’ll  tell  you  when  you  get  near  enough, 
and  then  you  must  put  the  helm  hard  a-port, 
and  that  will  carry  the  head  of  the  boat 
round,  and  bring  us  up  alongside.’ 

“  So  they  went  on,  the  fisherman  looking 
over  his  shoulder  occasionally,  and  at  last, 
just  as  they  were  coming  up  to  the  ship,  he 
called  out  to  Jock, 

u  1  Helm  a-port ;  — hard  a-port.’ 

“  So  Jock  crowded  the  tiller  hard  a-port, 
and  his  father,  at  the  same  moment,  drew  in 
his  oars,  and  rose  from  his  seat,  and  stepped 
to  the  bows.  The  boat  came  rapidly  round, 
and  swept  finely  up  alongside  of  the  ship. 

“  {  Well  done,  my  little  pilot,’  said  the 
men  in  the  ship.  ‘  You  brought  the  boat  up 
alongside  like  an  old  sailor.’ 

“  ‘  My  father  told  me  how,’  said  Jock. 

11  i  That’s  right,  my  boy,’  said  one  of  the 
$nen  ;  ‘  always  obey  your  father  ;  especially 
when  he’s  captain  to  boot.’ 


35 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

“  ‘  He  is  not  captain,’  said  Jock. 

“  ‘ Isn’t  he  ?  ’  said  the  sailor.  1  Who 
commands  that  craft  you  sail  in*  then  ? 
Do  you  ? ’ 

u  The  sailors  laughed  heartily  at  this,  and 
Jock  looked  somewhat  confused.  The  fish¬ 
erman  himself  smiled.  Pie  was  busy  all 
this  time  fastening  the  painter  to  some  part 
of  the  ship,  and  then  he  began  to  trade  with 
the  sailors  for  his  fish.  They  bought  a  good 
many  of  them,  and  the  fisherman  put  the 
money  in  his  pocket :  still  he  had  an  abun¬ 
dant  store  left  besides.  He  was  very  glad 
of  this  sale,  for  he  did  not  very  often  get  so 
good  an  opportunity  to  sell  his  fish  so  well. 
Finally,  when  the  sailors  had  bought  all 
they  wanted,  the  fisherman  said  he  must  put 
off,  or  he  should  be  very  late  home,  there 
was  so  little  wind. 

“  ‘  There  is  more  wind  coming,’  said  one 
of  the  sailors,  in  a  red  cap,  who  stood  lean¬ 
ing  over  the  bulwark  towards  the  boat. 
1  We  are  going  to  have  a  squall  off  from  the 
land.’ 

“  You  know  what  a  squall  is,”  said  Jonas, 
“I  suppose.” 

u  Not  exactly,”  said  Hollo. 


36  the  fisherman’s  boy. 

“It  is  a  gust  of  wind,  that  comes  up  sud¬ 
denly,  and  blows  very  hard.” 

“  What  made  the  sailor  think  there  was 
going  to  be  a  squall  ?  ”  asked  Kollo. 

“  O,  he  saw  some  clouds  over  the  land  in 
the  west,  and  thought  a  thunder  gust  was 
coming  up.  The  fisherman  looked  that 
way,  and  thought  so  too.  But  there  was 
now  quite  a  pretty  little  breeze  springing  up, 
which  blew  towards  the  land,  and  so  they 
made  all  sail  for  the  shore.” 

“  If  the  wind  was  blowing  towards  the 
shore,”  said  Rollo,  “  it  would  blow  the 
clouds  all  away  from  them.” 

“  One  would  think  so,”  said  Jonas  ;  “  but 
squalls  and  thunder-clouds  very  often  come 
up  against  the  wind. 

“  They  moved  along  very  slowly,  and  by 
the  time  they  had  gone  on  a  mile,  there  was 
a  broad,  black  cloud,  rising  in  the  west.  The 
sun  went  behind  it,  and  it  began  to  look  as 
if  night  was  pretty  near.  Still  they  went 
on,  for  the  breeze  was  fair,  as  it  blew  directly 
in  towards  shore,  though  the  cloud  kept 
rising  higher,  and  coming  out  more  and 
more  over  the  water.  Jock  eyed  the  cloud 
for  some  time,  and  at  last  he  saw  a  faint 


37 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

flash  of  lightning  behind  it.  Then  he  heard 
a  sound  of  distant  thunder  j  and  a  minute 
after  he  said, 

“  ‘  Father,  isn’t  there  going  to  be  a 
storm  ?  ’ 

“  1  A  squall ;  but  that  won’t  do  any 
harm.  It  may  make  us  a  little  later 
home.’ 

“  The  cloud  came  swelling  on,  and  it 
lightened  and  thundered  more  and  more. 
Presently  the  wind  all  died  away,  and  left 
the  sail  of  the  boat  hanging  idly  at  the  mast. 
They  were  now  not  very  far  from  the  mouth 
of  the  bay,  and  the  fisherman  thought  he 
could  pull  in  with  his  oars.  So  he  furled 
his  sail,  and  got  out  his  oars  again,  looking 
occasionally  over  his  shoulder  to  see  how  he 
got  along. 

u  Presently  he  stopped  rowing,  and  looked 
steadily  a  few  minutes  at  the  land,  as  if  he 
saw  something  singular.” 

“  What  did  he  see  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  He  saw  the  trees  waving,  and  dust  fly¬ 
ing,  which  made  him  think  there  was  going 
to  be  a  heavy  squall.  So  he  said  he  must 
put  the  boat’s  head  the  other  way  ;  and  he 
just  had  time  to  get  her  round,  and  his  oars 
4 


38  the  fisherman’s  boy. 

in,  when  the  squall  struck  them  with  great 
fury. 

“  The  boat  begun  to  scud  before  it  pretty 
rapidly,  when  Jock  said,  ‘  Why,  father,  you 
are  going  right  away  from  home.’ 

“  1  Yes,’  said  his  father  ;  ‘  but  this  will  not 
last  long.’ 

“  ‘  Why  don’t  you  anchor,  father,’  said 
Jock,  ‘ and  so  stop  the  boat  till  the  squall 
blows  over  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  It  is  too  deep  to  anchor  here,’  said  he. 

“  ‘  How  do  you  know  it  is  too  deep  ?  ’ 
said  Jock ;  and  he  tried  at  the  same  time  to 
look  over  the  side. 

“  1  Take  care,’  said  his  father,  very  quickly  ; 
1  there  goes  your  cap ;  ’  and  before  Jock  had 
time  to  put  his  hand  to  his  head,  away  went 
his  cap  flying  through  the  air  ;  and  at  length 
it  fell  into  the  water,  at  some  distance  ahead 
of  them.  The  wind  was  blowing  almost  a 
hurricane,  roaring  over  the  water,  and  howl¬ 
ing  and  whistling  among  the  ropes  of  the 
boat.  The  boat  was  scudding  very  rapidly 
on,  and  soon  overtook  the  cap  ;  and  the  fish¬ 
erman  hooked  it  up  with  the  boat-hook,  and 
took  it  in. 

u  The  cap  was  of  course  completely 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY.  39 

drenched  with  water  ;  but  this  was  of  no 
great  consequence,  for  it  soon  began  to  rain 
in  torrents,  and  as  there  was  very  little 
shelter,  they  were  both  soon  pretty  well  wet 
through.  But  this  was  not  the  worst  of  it  ; 
for  it  became  so  thick  with  the  rain  falling, 
and  the  mist  and  spray,  that  they  began  to 
be  afraid  they  should  lose  sight  of  the  shore, 
as  they  were  going  farther  and  farther  away 
from  it.  But  fortunately  the  wind  soon 
lulled,  so  that  the  fisherman  thought  he 
might  get  up  his  sail  again,  and  head  to¬ 
wards  the  shore.” 

“  Yes,  but  the  wind  was  blowing  off  of 
the  shore,”  said  Rollo  ;  “  and  so  he  could 
not  sail  back  home.” 

“Yes,  he  could,”  said  Jonas.  “They 
have  a  curious  way  of  fixing  the  sail  so  as 
to  go  towards  the  land,  even  when  the  wind 
is  blowing  off  from  it.  They  can’t  go  ex¬ 
actly  against  the  wind,  but  nearly  against 
it ;  —  they  call  it  sailing  near  the  wind. 

u  So  tire  fisherman  got  his  sail  up,  and 
brought  the  head  of  the  boat  up  to  the  wind, 
and  began  to  edge  along  towards  the  shore, 
in  a  slanting  direction.  But  it  now  began 
to  grow  dark  pretty  fast,  and  very  soon  he 


40 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

lost  sight  of  the  land  entirely.  Then  he  did 
not  know  what  to  do.” 

“  Why,  keep  on  straight,”  said  Lucy, 
“and  he  would  come  to  the  land  by  and 
by.” 

“  He  could  not  tell  whether  he  was  going 
straight  or  not,”  said  Jonas;  “he  could  not 
see  any  thing  but  water  all  around  him  ;  so 
he  had  nothing  to  judge  by  but  the  wind, 
and  he  soon  began  to  suspect  the  wind  was 
shifting.  The  lightning  and  thunder  grad¬ 
ually  ceased,  and  so  did  the  violence  of  the 
wind  and  rain.  In  fact,  the  thunder  shower 
seemed  to  turn  into  a  steady  rain  storm. 
The  fisherman  heat  about  for  an  hour  or 
more,  but  could  not  find  any  signs  of  land. 
And  now  he  began  to  feel  pretty  seriously 
alarmed  about  little  Jock  ;  for  ht  was  very 
wet  and  cold,  and  he  feared  that  they  must 
stay  out  all  night ;  and  though  he  knew  that 
he  could  stand  it,  himself,  very  well,  he  was 
afraid  that  Jock  would  perish  from  cold  and 
exposure. 

“  In  the  mean  time,  the  winds  and  waves 
increased,  and  the  water  began  to  dash  over 
the  bows  of  the  boat,  and  come  aboard. 
After  a  while  so  much  had  come  in,  that  the 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY.  41 

fisherman  began  to  bale  it  out,  and  he  set 
Jock  to  baling  too,  thinking  that  the  exercise 
might  help  to  keep  him  warm.  Jock  baled 
industriously  a  long  time,  but  at  length  he 
got  almost  exhausted  ;  and  as  the  waves  in¬ 
creased,  the  water  came  in  rather  faster  than 
they  both  could  bale  it  out.  It  was  now 
very  dark  ;  and  all  the  hope  the  fisherman 
had  of  saving  their  lives  was,  that  they  might 
be  pretty  near  the  land,  and  might  suddenly 
come  to  it.” 

“  And  were  they  pretty  near?”  asked 

Rollo. 

“No,”  said  Jonas,  “they  were  more  than 
ten  miles  from  land,  and  going  farther  and 
farther  away.” 

“  O,  dear  me  !  ”  said  Rollo  ;  “  then  poor 
little  Jock  was  drowned.” 

“  No,”  said  Jonas,  “  for  just  as  they  were 
about  giving  up  in  despair,  Jock,  who  was 
looking  out  for’ard,  cried  out  suddenly, 

“  1  Why,  father,  what  is  here  ?  ’ 

“  The  fisherman  looked  out  eagerly,  and 
saw,  just  before  them,  on  the  larboard  bow, 
a  large,  dark  mass  ;  and  a  moment  after,  as 
they  were  rapidly  approaching  it,  he  per¬ 
ceived  that  it  was  the  hull  of  a  vessel.  He 

4  * 


42  the  fisherman’s  boy. 

called  out  immediately,  as  loud  as  he  could, 
“  ‘  Ship,  ahoy  !  ’ 

“  Immediately  a  man  in  a  red  cap  ap¬ 
peared  at  the  bulwarks,  and  answered. 
The  fisherman  soon  perceived  that  it  was 
the  same  ship  that  he  had  visited  some  hours 
before.  He  brought  his  boat  alongside,  and 
secured  it,  and  he  and  Jock  went  aboard. 

“  The  ship  was  at  anchor.  They  found 
that  the  wind  had  shifted  soon  after  the  squall, 
and  blew  so  heavily  that  they  thought  it 
most  prudent  to  come  to  anchor.  They 
were  very  glad  to  receive  the  fisherman,  and 
especially  little  Jock,  safe  on  board.  The 
sailors  were  very  kind  to  the  little  pilot,  as 
they  called  him.  They  rigged  him  up  in 
their  own  trousers  and  jackets.  They  were 
a  great  deal  too  big,  it  is  true  ;  but  then  they 
were  warm  and  dry,  and  Jock  was  very  glad 
to  get  them  on,  in  exchange  for  his  own  wet 
and  cold  clothes.  He  cut  a  very  comical 
figure  down  in  the  forecastle,  with  a  great 
shaggy  pea-jacket  over  him,  the  long  sleeves 
hanging  down  his  sides.  After  the  sailors 
had  done  laughing  at  him,  they  put  him  into 
a  berth,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  was 
sound  asleep. 


43 


THE  FISHERMAN’S  BOY. 

“  The  next  morning,  very  early,  he  put 
on  his  own  clothes,  which  his  father  had 
taken  care  to  dry,  and  then  went  up  on 
deck.  On  looking  over  the  side  of  the  ship, 
he  found  that  his  father  had  just  finished 
baling  out  his  boat  and  getting  ready  to  set 
sail.  The  sky  was  clear,  and  the  wind  fair. 
The  sailors  wanted  to  buy  some  more  of  his 
fish,  but  the  fisherman  would  not  take  any 
pay  for  them.  When  he  had  given  them  as 
much  as  they  wanted,  he  thanked  them  for 
taking  such  good  care  of  him  and  Jock  ;  and 
then,  both  getting  into  their  boat,  they  put 
off  from  the  ship,  and  made  sail  for  the 
shore.  They  had  a  rapid  run,  and  got  into 
the  bay  just  after  sunrise.  The  tide  was 
going  in,  and  that  helped  them  on  the  faster  ; 
and  just  as  the  fisherman’s  wife  had  got  her 
breakfast  ready,  and  came  to  the  door  to  see 
if  she  could  see  any  thing  of  them,  she  found 
them,  to  her  great  joy,  just  fastening  the 
boat  to  old  Lookout.” 

Here  Jonas  paused,  and,  drawing  up  the 
reins,  began  to  drive  the  horse  a  little  faster. 

“  Is  that  all  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “that  is  all.” 


THE  QUESTION. 


Jonas  finished  his  story  just  as  they 
reached  the  foot  of  a  long,  winding  hill. 
The  road  was  smooth,  and  not  very  steep ; 
but  there  was  a  forest  on  both  sides,  and  as 
it  was  now  towards  evening,  the  road  was 
very  shady  and  still.  Now  and  then  the 
children  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  carryall, 
which  was  far  in  advance  of  them,  going 
slowly  up  the  hill.  Jonas  said  that  as  he 
had  a  pretty  heavy  load,  he  believed  he 
would  walk  up ;  and  so  he  put  the  reins  into 
Rollo ’s  hands,  and  then  stepping  down  care¬ 
fully  upon  the  thill,  he  leaped  off  to  the  side 
of  the  road. 

u  It  was  a  pretty  good  story,  after  all,” 
said  Lucy  to  Rollo,  when  they  were  alone. 

“  So  it  was,”  said  Rollo. 

“  If  there  hadn’t  been  so  many  sea 
phrases,”  continued  Lucy. 

“  But  then  it  is  very  useful  for  us  to  un- 


THE  QUESTION. 


45 


derstand  the  sea  phrases,  because  you  know, 
Lucy,  we  may  go  to  sea  some  day  our¬ 
selves.’’ 

u  I  never  shall,  if  I  can  help  it,”  said 
Lucy. 

“  I  mean  to,”  said  Rollo  ;  “I  should  like 
to  go  to  sea  very  much.” 

“  Perhaps  you  will,”  said  Lucy  ;  “  and  it 
may  be  very  well  for  a  boy  to  learn  about 
sea  phrases  ;  but  I  don’t  think  it  will  be  of 
any  use  to  a  girl.” 

In  fact,  Rollo  and  Lucy  got  quite  into  a 
discussion  about  the  desirableness  or  unde¬ 
sirableness  of  going  to  sea,  and  understand¬ 
ing  sea  customs  and  phrases  ;  and  before  they 
got  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  they  determined 
to  refer  the  questions  to  Rollo ’s  father.  As 
it  happened,  they  had  an  opportunity  to  do 
this  pretty  soon ;  for  when  they  arrived 
near  the  summit  of  the  hill,  they  saw  that 
the  carryall  was  waiting  for  them.  Rollo’s 
father  had  turned  a  little  out  of  the  road,  so 
as  to  allow  the  wagon  to  come  up  alongside, 
as  the  fisherman  would  have  said.  When 
they  came  up,  he  called  to  Jonas,  and  pointed 
forward,  and  asked  him  if  he  saw  a  spire  of 
a  church  away  off  there  several  miles. 


46 


THE  QUESTION. 


Jonas  looked  a  minute  in  the  direction 
indicated,  without  answering,  when  Rollo 
suddenly  exclaimed, 

“  I  see  it,  Jonas,  right  on  the  larboard 
bow.” 

Jonas  smiled,  and  then  said  that  he  saw  it. 

“  Close  by  that  church,”  said  Rollo’s 
father,  “  is  the  tavern  where  we  want  U 
stop  to-night.  Rollo  and  Lucy  may  nov 
get  in  with  us,  and  you  may  drive  on  be¬ 
fore  us,  and  tell  them  we  are  coming,  so 
that  they  may  be  getting  ready  for  us.” 

This  change  was  accordingly  made,  and 
very  soon  Jonas  was  trotting  briskly  on, 
down  the  long  slope  before  them  ;  the  rest 
following  at  a  more  moderate  pace,  in  the 
carryall.  They  had  come  out  of  the  forest 
at  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  now  were  travel¬ 
ling  through  a  pleasant  country  of  fields, 
and  orchards,  omd  farm-houses. 

“  Jonas  has* been  telling  you  about  ships 
and  the  sea,  I  suppose,”  said  Rollo’s  father. 

“  Yes,  father  ;  and  Lucy  and  I  had  a  ques¬ 
tion  whether  it  is  useful  for  girls  to  know 
any  thing  about  such  things.” 

“You  know  girls  don’t  go  to  sea,”  said 
Lucy. 


THE  QUESTION. 


47 


“Yes,  they  do,  sometimes,”  said  Rollo. 

“  Well,  if  they  do,”  said  Lucy,  “  they  have 
nothing  to  do  with  managing  the  ship.” 

“  I  am  afraid  you  don’t,  either  of  you, 
want  to  know  what  my  opinion  is,”  said 
Rollo’s  father. 

“  Why,  yes,  we  do,”  said  they  both. 

“  It  seems  to  me,  on  the  other  hand,  that, 
instead  of  wishing  to  get  my  opinion,  you 
are  each  endeavoring  to  make  me  adopt  your 
own.” 

The  children  were  silent.  They  per¬ 
ceived  that  it  was  as  Rollo’s  father  had  rep¬ 
resented  :  what  each  really  wanted  was  the 
victory,  not  the  truth. 

“Now,”  continued  Rollo’s  father,  “I  am 
rather  in  a  delicate  situation  ;  for  I  should 
like  very  well  to  talk  with  you  about  this 
subject  ;  but  if  I  should  say  I  thought  such 
knowledge  was  useful  for  a  girl,  that  would 
be  giving  you  a  triumph,  Rollo,  and  it  would 
hurt  Lucy’s  feelings  ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
if  I  say  it  is  not  useful,  it  will  give  her  a 
triumph,  and  hurt  yours.” 

The  children  were  silent.  In  fact  they 
did  not  know  what  to  say. 

“It  is  not  polite  or  kind  for  friends  to  get 


48 


THE  QUESTION. 


into  such  a  condition,  in  respect  to  each  other, 
where  one  or  the  other  must  be  made  to 
suffer.55 

Here  he  paused,  and  the  children  were 
silent  and  thoughtful. 

u  Well,  uncle,55  said  Lucy,  “  I  give  up. 
Rollo  is  right,  I  know  j  for  all  knowledge  is 
useful.55 

“  There,  that  is  a  good  girl,55  said  her 
uncle  ;  “  that  relieves  me  of  all  my  diffi¬ 
culty.  I  think  Rollo  is  right  myself ;  for 
though  ladies  never  have  actually  to  man¬ 
age  a  ship,  and  seldom  take  long  voyages, 
yet  they  sail  in  boats  and  ships,  and  still 
more  frequently  they  are  on  the  sea  coast, 
or  in  seaport  towns,  where  they  see  or  hear 
of  them.  Then  there  is  another  advantage 
more  important  still.55 

“  What  is  that  ? 55  said  Lucy. 

u  In  your  general  reading,  you  will  be 
very  often  meeting  with  the  more  common 
sea  phrases,  and  allusions  to  the  more  im¬ 
portant  and  striking  evolutions  of  a  ship ; 
and  sometimes  the  whole  interest  of  a  de¬ 
scription  will  depend  upon  your  understand¬ 
ing  them.  For  instance,  you  are  reading  a 
book  of  voyages,  and  perhaps  it  gives  an 


THE  QUESTION. 


49 


account  of  a  peculiar  difficulty  the  ship  got 
into  upon  a  savage  coast.  Now,  unless  you 
know  something  about  the  movements  of  a 
ship,  you  cannot  understand  the  difficulty  at 
all.” 

Here  Rollo’s  mother  said  she  should  like 
to  understand  about  a  ship  very  much ;  and 
she  wished  his  father  would  get  a  little 
model  of  one,  some  time,  all  rigged  complete, 
and  explain  all  the  parts  to  them. 

u  O,  I  wish  you  would,  father,’5  said  Rollo. 
“  Can  you  ? 55 

u  Perhaps  I  can,55  said  his  father.  16  Sail¬ 
ors  make  such  models  sometimes  on  long 
voyages,  and  then  sell  them,  when  they 
get  ashore.  Perhaps  Jonas  could  rig  one  for 
us.55 

Rollo  determined  to  ask  him,  and  then, 
after  riding  on  a  little  farther,  he  asked  his 
father  to  tell  them  something  more  about 
ships. 

“  Very  well,55  said  his  father,  u  I  will. 
u  Jonas  told  you  that  the  side  that  the 
wind  blows  from  is  called  the  windward  side, 
and  the  other  the  leeward” 

“  Yes,  sir,55  said  Rollo. 
u  The  windward  side  is  also  called  the 
5 


50 


THE  QUESTION. 


weather  side,  because  that  is  most  exposed 
to  the  weather.  The  bow  on  the  weather 
side  is  called  the  weather  bow.  And  so 
they  say  the  iveather  beam.,  and  the  weather 
quarter.  So  the  parts  on  the  other  side  are 
called  the  lee  bow,  the  lee  beam,  and  the 
lee  quarter.” 

“  Now,  suppose  you  were  sailing  in  a  ship 
at  sea,  and  were  to  come  in  sight  of  rocks, 
which  would  be  the  most  dangerous  place 
for  them,  on  the  lee  bow,  or  the  weather 
bow,  do  you  think  ?  ” 

“  I’m  sure  I  don’t  know,”  said  Rollo. 

“  The  lee  bow  would  be  the  most  dan¬ 
gerous  place,  because,  as  the  ship  was  moving 
on,  the  wind  would  blow  right  towards 
them ;  but  if  the  rocks  were  any  where  on 
the  weather  side,  there  would  be  scarcely 
any  danger,  because  the  wind  would  blow 
from  them ,  towards  the  ship,  and  so  she  could 
easily  go  away  from  them.” 

“  Yes,  sir,”  said  Lucy,  “I  understand.” 

“You  often  hear  of  a  lee  shore,  in  books 
of  voyages :  it  means  a  shore  to  leeward  of 
the  ship,  and  of  course  the  wind  tends  to 
blow  the  ship  towards  it ;  and  if  the  wind 
is  heavy,  a  ship,  in  such  a  case,  is  in  great 


THE  QUESTION. 


51 


danger.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  get  upon  a 
lee  shore  in  a  heavy  gale  of  wind.” 

(i  Can’t  they  anchor  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Sometimes  they  can  ;  but  then  there  is 
great  danger  that  the  wind  and  sea  will  be 
so  powerful  as  to  drag  the  anchor  along  the 
bottom,  or  part,  that  is,  break,  the  cable  ;  and 
then  the  ship  goes  inevitably  on  to  the  rocks, 
and  is  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  tremendous 
waves.  I  have  seen  pictures  of  ships  upon 
a  lee  shore.” 

“  So  have  I,”  said  Lucy  ;  “  but  I  did  not 
understand  what  it  meant,  only  I  saw  there 
was  a  ship,  and  some  waves  and  rocks.” 

“  And  I  suppose  you  did  not  take  much 
interest  in  it.  But  now,  if  you  were  to  see 
one,  you  would  examine  it  with  great  care. 
You  would  be  interested  to  notice  that  the 
wind  was  actually  blowing  towards  the 
shore,  and  that  the  ship  was  in  great  danger 
of  going  upon  it.  You  would  look  to  see  if 
they  had  an  anchor  out,  and  if  so,  whether 
the  cable  was  strained  tight,  so  as  to  be  in 
danger  of  breaking  by  the  force  of  the  winds 
and  Avaves.” 

“  I  should  like  to  see  one  again,  very 
much,”  said  Lucy. 


52 


THE  QUESTION. 


“  That  is  one  great  advantage  of  knowl¬ 
edge  ;  it  enables  you  to,  take  a  great  deal 
more  interest  and  pleasure  in  any  thing  you 
see.  There  is  no  object  so  dull  and  unin¬ 
teresting  that,  if  you  knew  all  about  it,  you 
would  not  take  a  pleasure  in  seeing  it.” 

“  O,  father  !  ”  said  Rollo. 

“It  is  true,”  said  his  father.  “  If  you 
don’t  think  so,  you  may  name  any  object 
you  think  entirely  uninteresting,  and  let  me 
tell  you  something  about  it,  and  then  see  if 
you  don’t  take  an  interest  in  looking  at  it.” 

“Well,”  said  Rollo,  looking  around,— 
“  a  fence.” 

“  Very  well,  a  fence.  I  will  tell  you 
about  fences,  and  see  if  it  does  not  awaken 
an  interest  in  seeing  fences,  and  examining 
them.” 

“  O,  father,”  said  Rollo,  “  I  don’t  believe 
it  will.” 

“We  will  try  to-morrow  ;  but  we  shall  not 
have  time  to-night ;  for  we  are  now  pretty 
near  the  tavern.” 

In  the  mean  time,  Jonas  had  gone  on,  as 
he  had  been  directed,  and  had  reached  the 
little  church.  Just  beyond  it,  he  saw  a 


THE  QUESTION. 


53 


small  house,  neatly  painted,  and  with  green 
blinds,  and  having  a  small  tavern-sign  hang¬ 
ing  from  a  great  elm  in  front  of  it.  Across 
the  road  was  a  large  stable,  with  a  shed 
attached  to  it.  He  drove  his  wagon  into 
the  shed,  and  a  man  came  out  of  the  stable 
and  took  his  horse. 

Jonas  told  him  that  a  gentleman  and 
lady  and  two  children  were  coming  on,  and 
wanted  to  stop  there  for  the  night,  and 
asked  him  if  they  could  have  chambers. 
The  tavern-keeper  said  he  should  be  very 
glad  to  accommodate  them. 

“  What  is  his  name  ?  ”  said  he. 

“  Mr.  Holiday,”  said  Jonas. 

A  great  many  children,  who  have  read 
these  books,  have  wanted  very  much  to 
know  the  name  of  Rollo’s  father ;  but  I  do 
not  know  when  or  how  they  would  have 
found  out,  if  the  tavern-keeper  had  not 
happened  to  ask  Jonas. 

The  tavern-keeper  said  he  should  be  very 
glad  to  entertain  Mr.  Holiday,  and  accord¬ 
ingly  went  in  and  gave  directions  for  having 
some  rooms  opened  and  aired,  and  also  asked 
his  wife  in  the  kitchen  to  begin  to  get  tea. 

4  * 


54 


THE  QUESTION. 


That  evening,  after  tea,  the  children 
amused  themselves  in  drawing  the  shape  of 
a  ship  upon  a  small  piece  of  paper,  and 
writing  opposite  the  several  parts  the  va¬ 
rious  names,  according  to  the  information 
which  Jonas  had  sriven  them. 


55 


% 


SOBER  JOHN. 


“  Sober  John,”  said  Jonas,  when  they  got 
all  ready  for  a  story  the  next  day,  “lived  at 
his  father’s  house,  which  was  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  village.  He  had  several 
brothers  and  sisters,  some  older,  and  some 
younger  than  himself.  His  father’s  house 
was  large  and  pleasant,  with  trees  on  each 
side  of  it,  and  a  garden  behind.  Beyond  the 
garden  was  a  field,  and  in  one  part  of  the 
field  was  a  long  hill,  descending  to  a  small 
pond  at  the  bottom.  They  used  to  sail 
boats  upon  this  pond  in  summer,  and  skate 
upon  it  in  winter. 

John  was  not  much  of  a  hand  at  play. 
He  preferred  staying  in  the  house,  reading, 
or  drawing,  or  working  about  something  or 
other  at  his  desk.  He  had  a  little  room, 
which  he  had  fixed  for  himself  up  stairs, 
where  his  father  used  to  let  him  have  a  lit¬ 
tle  fire  Wednesday  and  Saturday  afternoons, 
when  there  was  no  school,  because  he  pre- 


56 


SOBER  JOHN. 


ferred  staying  there  to  going  out  to  play 
with  his  brothers  and  cousins.  Did  X  tell 
you  about  his  cousins  ?  ” 

“  No,”  said  Rollo,  “  not  a  word.” 

“  He  had  some  cousins,  who  lived  in  the 
next  house,'  at  a  short  distance  through  the 
trees.  And  his  cousins  and  his  brothers  used 
to  play  together  a  great  deal ;  but  it  was  very 
seldom  that  they  could  get  John  to  play 
with  them,  and  so  they  called  him  Sober 
John.  But  they  liked  him  very  much, 
notwithstanding.” 

“  Why?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Because  he  was  always  very  kind  to 
them ;  and  then  he  often  contrived  plays  for 
the  other  boys,  and  helped  them  plan  a  great 
many  things  they  never  would  have  thought 
of  without  him.  He  was  excellent  in  plan¬ 
ning  and  calculating.  He  learnt  it  out  of 
his  books. 

u  The  boys  often  came  to  him,  when  they 
got  tired  of  all  their  plays,  for  some  new 
amusement,  and  he  generally  contrived 
something  for  them.” 

u  What  kind  of  plays  did  he  contrive  ?  ” 
asked  Lucy. 

“  O,  I  don’t  know,”  said  Jonas,  “  all  kinds. 


SOBER  JOHN. 


57 


For  instance,  one  night  all  his  cousins  were 
at  his  father’s  house,  to  spend  the  evening 
together  in  play.  He  staid  with  them  a 
short  time  after  tea,  and  then  went  off  to  his 
room.  By  and  by  they  had  played  every 
thing  they  could  think  of,  and  so  they  sent 
two  of  his  cousins  up  to  his  room,  to  ask 
him  what  they  should  do  next.  He  told 
them  to  go  and  get  all  the  lamps  in  the 
house,  and  light  them,  and  give  each  boy 
and  girl  one,  and  then  let  them  walk  about 
the  room,  and  each  one  try  to  blow  the  others’ 
lamps  out,  and  to  see  who  could  keep  his 
lamp  burning  the  longest  ;  — only  every  one 
must  go  and  sit  down  as  soon  as  his  own 
lamp  was  blown  out.  They  went  and  got 
the  lamps,  and  tried  it,  and  found  it  excellent 
fun.  They  afterwards  asked  John  what 
made  him  think  of  that  play,  and  he  said  he 
found  an  account  of  it  in  a  book  of  travels 
in  Italy.  In  fact,  he  had  all  sorts  of  ways 
of  helping  them  in  their  plays.  He  made 
their  kite  frames,  and  told  them  how  to  rig 
their  ships,  and  covered  their  balls,  and 
drew  little  pictures  for  them,  and  did  a 
thousand  things  ;  and  so  they  liked  him  very 
well,  although  they  did  call  him  Sober  John. 


58 


SOBER  JOHN. 


“  When  he  did  any  thing  for  them,  how¬ 
ever,  he  was  very  strict  in  his  conditions. ” 

“  Conditions  ? ”  said  Rollo.  “  What  con¬ 
ditions  ?  ” 

“  Why,  he  never  allowed  them  to  play  in 
his  room,  or  talk  loud  there.  When  they 
came  in  to  see  him,  he  always  made  them 
be  still,  and  stand  quietly,  and  talk  one  at  a 
time.  Then  he  was  very  particular  about 
their  obeying  his  directions  exactly,,  when¬ 
ever  he  gave  them  any  thing  to  do.’5 

“Why,  did  he  make  them  work?”  said 
Rollo,  with  a  tone  of  some  surprise. 

u  No,”  said  Jonas ;  “  I  mean  when  he 
undertook  to  plan  any  amusement  for  them, 
he  was  very  particular  in  having  each  do 
just  what  he  said,  in  executing  it.  If  they 
made  any  objections  or  complaints,  or  if  any 
one  did  not  like  to  do  his  part,  he  would 
stop  at  once,  and  leave  them  to  find  their 
own  amusement. 

“  But  I  must  come  to  my  story.  One 
winter  evening,  the  boys  came  in  from  their 
play  about  dark,  and  as  it  was  a  little  before 
tea-time,  they  sat  down  in  a  corner  by  the 
fire.  John  was  sitting  on  the  other  side 
telling  a  story  to  his  little  sister,  about  two 


SOBER  JOHN. 


59 


years  old,  who  was  sitting  in  his  lap.  After 
he  had  finished  his  story,  the  hoys  wanted 
him  to  tell  them  what  to  do  the  afternoon  of 
the  next  day ;  because  it  was  Wednesday, 
and  there  was  to  be  no  school.  John  told 
them  they  had  better  slide  down  hill,  for  it 
was  now  capital  sliding,  he  said,  on  the  hill 
•side  beyond  the  garden.  The  boys  said 
they  had  not  sleds  enough.  Their  cousins 
were  coming  over  to  see  them,  and  there 
were  only  two  good  sleds  among  them  all. 
John  then  said  he  would  think,  and  he  took 
his  pencil  out  of  his  pocket,  and  got  a  small 
piece  of  paper,  and  began  to  make  calcula¬ 
tions  and  drawings  ;  but  he  would  not  let  the 
boys  see  what  he  was  doing.  At  last,  when 
the  supper  was  coming  in,  he  told  them  he 
had  contrived  a  plan,  but  it  would  cost  some 
money,  perhaps  two  dollars,  though  it  would 
last  a  long  time.  ‘Now,’  said  he,  ‘there  are 
you  four,  and  your  four  cousins  make  eight 
that  is  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  apiece.  Now, 
if  you  have  a  mind  to  put  in  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  apiece,  and  obey  my  instructions,  I 
will  see  what  I  can  do.’ 

“  The  boys  were  very  eager  to  know  what 
the  plan  could  be  ;  but  John  said  he  couldn’t 


60 


SOBER  JOHN. 


tell  them,  but  that  they  might  go  over  the 
next  morning,  and  see  if  their  cousins  were 
willing  to  furnish  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  apiece. 

“  They  agreed  to  do  so  ;  and  just  before 
school  they  came  over  each  with  a  quarter 
of  a  dollar  in  his  hand.  The  way  they  got 
their  money  was  this :  The  boys  used  to 
work  sometimes,  and  their  fathers  paid 
them,  and  thus  they  had  all  laid  up  quite  a 
sum  of  money ;  and  they  used  to  take  from 
this  whenever  they  wanted  any  money  to 
carry  into  execution  any  of  John’s  plans. 
Their  fathers  allowed  them  to  spend  it  in 
any  way  that  John  recommended,  for  they 
had  confidence  in  him ;  but  in  other  cases 
they  were  not  allowed  to  expend  any  of  it, 
without  their  father’s  or  mother’s  leave. 

“  When  they  went  to  school  that  morning, 
they  found  that  John  had  gone  on  before 
them  ;  and,  watching  him,  they  observed  that 
he  went  into  a  carpenter’s  shop,  with  a  paper 
in  his  hand.  So  they  supposed  that  he  was 
going  to  get  the  carpenter  to  make  some¬ 
thing,  and  that  the  paper  was  a  drawing  of 
it ;  for  John  had  learned  to  draw,  and  al¬ 
ways  made  a  drawing  of  any  curious  thing 
he  wanted  to  have  made. 


SOBER  JOHN. 


61 


“At  noon,  after  dinner,  John  went  out  in 
the  shed,  and  took  down  a  rope  which  he 
had  prepared,  about  ten  feet  long,  and  with 
short  cross-pieces  of  wood  curiously  spliced 
into  it,  at  equal  distances,  about  two  feet 
apart,  for  handles  to  take  hold  of.  He  let 
the  two  smallest  boys  take  hold  of  the  one 
at  the  end,  and  the  others  came  along  in 
pairs,  at  the  other  handles.  When  he  had 
done,  he  said,  1  There  !  there  is  a  fine  team 
of  horses !  Now  trot  off  to  the  carpenter’s, 
and  hook  on  to  the  jolly-boat  he  has  got 
made  for  you.’ 

“  The  boys  started  off  in  high  glee. 
When  they  got  to  the  carpenter’s,  they  found 
there  a  very  long  sled,  with  thin  plank  run¬ 
ners,  and  a  curious  contrivance  at  the  end 
behind.” 

“  What  was  it  ?  ”  said  Rollo,  eagerly. 

“A  kind  of  a  rudder,”  said  Jonas. 

“  A  rudder  !  ”  said  Rollo  ;  “  what,  to  steer 
by?” 

“Yes,”  said  Jonas.  “It  was  a  single 
runner  reaching  out  behind,  in  the  middle. 
It  was  fastened  to  a  round  bar  which  came 
up  through  the  end  of  a  sled,  and  had  a  kind 
of  a  handle  at  the  top,  so  that  it  could  move 


62 


SOBER  JOHN. 


one  way  or  the  other,  and  so  steer  the  sled 
like  a  rudder. 

“  The  boys  hooked  on  to  their  jolly-boat, 
as  John  had  called  it,  and  trotted  home  with 
it.  It  went  smoothly  and  beautifully  over 
the  ice  and  snow. 

“  When  they  came  home,  John  came 
down  to  look  at  the  jolly-boat.  He  ex¬ 
amined  the  rudder  some  time  thoughtfully, 
and  then  said,  ‘  Yes,  I  think  that  will  steer. 
Now,  boys,  who’ll  be  pilot  ? ’ 

“  ‘  I,’  c  I,5  ‘I,’  said  Arthur,  and  James,  and 
Samuel  ;  and  4 1,’  and  1 1,’  said  Frank  and 
Thomas.  In  fact,  they  all  said  ‘  I,5  except 
little  George,  who  found  that  there  were 
so  many  candidates  for  the  office,  that  he 
stood  quietly  by,  keeping  hold  of  one  end 
of  the  rope,  as  if  he  thought  it  was  useless 
to  put  in  his  claim. 

“‘You  must  take  turns  being  pilot,’  said 
John,  1  and  we  will  begin  with  the  young¬ 
est.  George,  you  shall  be  pilot  first.’ 

“  1 1 !  ’  said  George  ;  and  he  began  to  clap 
his  hands  in  high  glee. 

“  ‘  Now  I  suppose,’  said  John,  ‘  I  had  better 
go  out  and  show  you  how  to  steer.’  So 
he  very  deliberately  took  his  seat  upon 


SOBER  JOHN. 


63 


the  sled,  and  told  the  boys  to  haul  him 
along. 

“  The  boys  grasped  the  string  again,  and 
began  to  pull  and  prance  like  so  many 
young  ponies.  They  trotted  through  the 
garden  gate,  which  was  always  open  in  the 
winter,  and  down  through  the  great  pear- 
tree  alley,  until  at  length,  out  through  the 
back  gate,  they  came  to  the  top  of  the  hill. 

“  The  coast,  as  the  boys  called  their  sli¬ 
ding  place,  was  well  worn  and  smooth,  and 
there  had  been,  just  before,  a  rain  and  a  frost 
after  it,  which  had  made  the  road  almost  as 
hard  and  smooth  as  ice,  and  the  pond  was 
covered  with  ice  from  one  end  to  the  other. 
John  stopped  the  jolly-boat  at  the  top  of  the 
hill,  and  drew  back  the  rope.  He  placed  him¬ 
self  at  the  stern,  and  took  hold  of  the  tiller. 

“‘Now,5  said  John,  ‘who  takes  passage 
with  me  to  the  Mediterranean  ?  5 

“  Some  of  the  boys  were  at  first  afraid  to 
get  on  ;  but  at  length  they  all  concluded  to 
venture,  and  they  arranged  themselves  one 
before  the  other,  little  George  behind,  so 
that  he  might  learn  how  to  steer.  When 
all  was  ready,  they  tried  to  start  it  off,  the 
boys  all  working  their  heels  in  the  snow,  to 


64 


SOBER  JOHN. 


get  it  a-going,  like  so  many  legs  of  a  centi¬ 
pede.  Presently  the  jolly-boat  began  to 
move  of  itself,  though  at  first  slowly.  It, 
however,  soon  began  to  gather  headway,  and 
at  length  went  bounding  along  over  every 
swell  and  hollow,  like  a  ship  in  a  gale  of 
wind.  John  kept  her  exactly  in  the  track, 
until  at  length  they  reached  the  bottom  of 
the  hill,  and  then  it  came  down  upon  the 
pond  like  an  arrow.  But  now,  as  the  ice 
was  perfectly  smooth,  the  rudder  could  not 
get  any  hold,  and  so  the  jolly-boat  gradually 
broached  to - 55 

“  O  dear  ! 55  said  Lucy ;  u  there  are  all  your 
old  sea-phrases  again.’5 

“  O,  I  forgot,55  said  Jonas,  smiling.  “  I 
did  not  mean  to  give  you  any  more  sea- 
phrases,  but,  somehow  or  other,  telling 
about  the  fisherman  has  brought  them  all 
into  my  head.  But,  Lucy,  I  will  try,  in  my 
next  story,  not  to  have  a  single  sea-phrase 
from  beginning  to  end.55 

“  0,  no  matter  about  it,55  said  Lucy. 

“  Well,  the  jolly-boat  slewed  round,  and 
went  sideways,  the  boys  all  hanging  back, 
and  expecting  every  minute  that  it  would 
go  over. 


SOBER  JOHN. 


65 


“  £  Steer  !  steer,  John  !  ’  cried  out  Arthur  ; 
1  why  don’t  you  steer  ? 5 

££  Just  at  that  moment  the  jolly-boat  had 
wheeled  almost  entirely  around,  and  had 
arrived  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  pond. 
The  end  of  one  of  the  runners  struck  the 
snow  of  the  shore  gently,  and  it  stopped, 
and  the  boys  all  jumped  olf,  laughing  hear¬ 
tily,  and  all  eager  to  go  up  and  try  it  again. 
They  accordingly  hooked  on  the  rope  again, 
and  pulled  away,  and  were  soon  ready  for 
another  slide.  John  then  said  he  would 
leave  them  to  manage  for  themselves. 
£  You  won’t  steer  very  well,’  said  he, £  at  first, 
and,  in  fact,  you  may  get  some  capsizings  ,* 
but  you  must  be  all  the  merrier  for  it.’ 

££  And  now  I  must  have  some  sea-phrases 
to  tell  the  rest,”  said  Jonas. 

££  Yery  well,”  said  Lucy. 

££  The  next  time  they  tried  it,  George  took 
the  helm,  and  they  went  on  very  correctly 
half  way  down  ;  but  then  they  began  to  run 
off  the  track  to  the  left. 

££  £  Take  care  !  take  care  !  ’  said  James. 

££  £  Hi  —  yi,  hi  —  yi !  ’  said  Thomas,  half 
screaming,  half  laughing. 

££  £  Steer,  George,  steer  !  ’  said  Frank. 

6  * 


66 


SOBER  JOHN. 


11 1  Helm  a-port  !  George,  hard  a-port !  ’ 
cried  Arthur. 

“  But  George,  in  his  confusion,  instead 
of  putting  the  helm  a-port,  only  crowded 
it  harder  and  harder  a-starboard,  and  this 
carried  the  jolly-boat  short  about  to  the 
left.  It  balanced  itself  a  moment  upon  the 
edge  of  a  knoll,  and  then  went  over,  tum¬ 
bling  the  boys  head  over  heels  down  the 
snow-bank.75 

“  Did  it  hurt  them  ? 77  said  Rollo. 

“  Not  much  ;  they  soon  had  the  jolly-boat 
to  the  top  of  the  hill  again,  and  before  night 
they  got  to  have  such  skill  in  steering  that 
they  could  keep  her  exactly  in  the  track 
until  they  got  to  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  and 
strike  the  ice  upon  the  pond  so  exactly  true, 
that  they  would  shoot  across  from  shore  to 
shore,  as  straight  as  an  arrow.55 

Here  Jonas  stopped,  as  if  the  story  was 
ended.  Rollo  then  asked  him  what  made 
Sober  John  think  of  such  a  plan  as  that. 
“  Why,55  said  he,  “  he  had  been  reading 
about  an  ice-boat  that  day,  which  sails  about 
on  the  ice,  with  three  runners,  the  hinder 
one  movable  like  a  rudder.55 


SOBER  JOHN. 


69 


u  Why  would  not  the  jolly-boat  steer,  then, 
on  the  ice  ?  ” 

“Because,”  said  Jonas,  “her  rudder  was 
of  wood.  In  an  ice-boat  the  rudder  is  of 
iron,  and  so  takes  hold  of  the  ice  better,  like 
a  skate-iron.” 

“  Yes,”  said  Rollo  ;  “  I  understand  it 
now.” 


70 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


One  day,  as  Jonas  and  the  children  were 
riding  along,  they  observed  upon  one  side 
of  the  road,  among  some  trees  at  a  little 
distance,  a  small  farm-house,  with  several 
sheds  and  small  barns  near  it,  and  among 
the  rest  a  large  barn  which  rose  above  all 
the  other  buildings. 

“  What  a  great  barn  !  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas  ;  “  that  barn  makes  me 
think  of  the  Prevarication  story.” 

u  O,  tell  it  to  us,”  said  Lucy  ;  “come,  we 
are  all  ready  for  another  story.” 

“  Yery  well,”  said  Jonas,  “I  will. 

“  There  was  once  a  farmer  who  had  two 
boys,  and  it  gave  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
to  make  them  come  home  in  season,  when 
he  sent  them  away  of  errands.  Like  many 
other  boys,  they  had  a  sad  habit  of  loitering 
and  playing  by  the  way.  Sometimes  he 
would  send  them  off  a  short  distance,  for 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


71 


something  which  he  wanted  very  much,  and 
they  would  get  to  playing  by  the  way,  and 
keep  their  father  waiting  for  it  two  hours. 
So,  when  their  mother  sent  them  to  the 
store,  in  the  afternoon,  they  would  be  gone 
till  night,  and  sometimes  not  get  home  until 
it  was  so  late  and  dark,  that  she  began  to  be 
afraid  that  some  accident  had  happened  to 
them.  Then,  when  they  came  home,  and 
she  asked  them  what  made  them  so  late, 
they  would  say  that  they  went  ‘  as  soon  as 
they  could.’  That  was  what  they  almost 
always  said,  that  they  went  as  soon  as  they 
could.” 

u  And  so  they  told  a  lie,  as  well  as  dis¬ 
obeyed,”  said  Rollo. 

“  Why,  not  exactly  ;  for  they  loitered  in 
such  a  way  that  they  hardly  knew  them¬ 
selves  how  much  time  they  wasted.  They 
would  go  along  very  briskly  a  few  steps,  and 
then  stop  to  talk  about  something  which 
they  picked  up  in  the  street,  or  to  sit  down 
by  the  side  of  the  road,  or  to  talk  with  boys  ; 
and  then  the  time  slipped  away  a  great  deal 
faster  than  they  supposed.  Sometimes  they 
really  stopped  to  play,  and  then  they  gener¬ 
ally  acknowledged  it,  if  their  father  ques- 


72 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


tioned  them  closely ;  for  they  would  not  tell 
an  absolute  lie. 

“  At  last,  their  father  had  to  punish  them, 
and  he  did  so  once  or  twice,  and  determined 
to  do  it  more  and  more  severely  until  this 
bad  habit  was  broken  up.  While  things 
were  in  this  state,  their  father  told  them,  one 
day,  he  wanted  them  to  go  over  to  a  neigh¬ 
bor’s  house  at  some  distance,  and  lead  a 
heifer  there.  A  heifer,  you  know,  is  a  young 
cow.  The  farmer  had  fastened  a  halter 
around  the  heifer’s  neck,  and  then  put  the 
end  of  the  halter  into  the  boys’  hands,  for 
them  to  lead  her  by.  He  charged  them  not 
to  stop  to  play,  but  to  come  directly  home, 
and  to  bring  the  halter  with  them.  So,  one 
of  the  boys  took  hold  of  the  halter  and  led 
the  heifer  along,  and  the  other  walked  by 
his  side. 

“  They  did  not  stop  to  play  by  the  way 
as  they  went,  but  led  the  heifer  on  directly. 
When  they  got  to  the  house,  they  turned 
the  heifer  out,  and  took  the  halter  to  return 
home.  But,  unfortunately,  there  were  some 
boys  there,  and  they  asked  them  to  go  out 
into  the  barn  yard  with  them.  The  boys 
thought  they  would  go  a  few  minutes,  and 


Tils  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


73 


so  they  laid  down  the  halter,  and  went. 
They  played  in  the  bam  yard  some  time, 
amusing  themselves  particularly  with  a  ram 
which  was  there.  The  time  passed  away 
very  fast,  and  though  they  had  a  secret  feel¬ 
ing  all  the  time  that  they  were  doing  wrong, 
they  kept  staying  a  little  longer,  and  a  little 
longer.  After  some  time,  they  caught  the 
ram,  and  then  they  thought  it  would  be 
capital  fun  to  put  the  halter  on  him,  and 
lead  him  about  as  they  had  done  the  heifer. 
So,  one  of  the  boys  went  and  got  the  halter, 
and  then  came  the  task  of  putting  it  on. 
Some  of  them  held  the  ram,  grasping  his 
Avoolly  sides  with  their  hands;  others  slipped 
the  halter  over  his  head,  and  contrived  to 
buckle  it  up,  though  it  was  a  great  deal  too 
big  for  him.  The  poor  ram  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  this  usage,  and  he  pulled 
and  struggled,  and  did  his  best  to  get  free. 
First,  he  drew  back ;  then,  he  sprang  for¬ 
ward,  the  boys  shouting  around^  him,  and 
holding  on  to  his  sides,  and  to  the  halter. 
Presently  he  shot  ahead,  the  boys  after  him ; 
but  he  succeeded  in  getting  clear,  and  with 
a  bound  jerked  away  the  halter  from  the 
boy’s  hand  who  held  it,  escaped  from  the 

7 


74 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


barn  yard,  and  the  next  moment  he  was 
galloping  off  away  into  the  field,  the  halter 
dangling  by  his  side,  and  the  boys  after  him 
in  full  cry. 

u  They  soon  gave  up  the  pursuit,  and  then 
the  two  boys  who  had  been  sent  with  the 
heifer  began  to  be  seriously  alarmed.  They 
had  already  staid  a  long  time,  and  now  they 
had  lost  the  halter,  and  they  did  not  dare  to 
go  home  and  face  their  father,  without  ob¬ 
taining  it  again.  They  had  got  themselves 
into  serious  trouble,  and  they  felt  really 
anxious  and  unhappy  about  it.  It  is  bad 
enough  to  get  into  trouble  in  doing  right  ; 
but  it  is  ten  times  worse  when  it  comes  by 
doing  wrong. 

“  They  now  set  themselves  to  catching 
the  ram  again  ;  but  it  was  hard  work.’’ 

“  How  did  they  do  it  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  I  don’t  know,”  said  Jonas. 

u  Don’t  know  ?  ” 

c£  No  ;  I  only  know  they  tried  to  catch  him 
some  time,  and  finally  they  succeeded,  and 
got  the  halter.  Perhaps  they  drove  him 
gradually  up  into  a  corner  of  the  field,  and 
there  surrounded  him  ;  or  they  may  have 
all  gone  out  beyond  him,  and  drove  him 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


77 


back  into  the  barn  yard,  and  so  penned  him 
up,  and  caught  him  there.  At  any  rate,  they 
caught  him  somehow  or  other,  and  got  the 
halter  ;  and  then  the  two  boys,  feeling  guilty 
and  miserable,  set  out  on  their  return  home. 

u  They  began  to  consider  what  they  must 
tell  their  father,  and  after  some  plotting  and 
planning,  they  concluded  that  they  could 
make  out  a  tolerably  good  excuse,  without 
absolutely  telling  a  lie.  The  story  which 
they  concluded  to  tell  was  this,  that  they  led 
the  heifer  to  the  place  as  they  were  directed, 
and  that  there  some  boys  got  the  halter,  and 
put  it  upon  a  ram,  and  then  that  the  ram  got 
away,  and  it  took  them  a  long  time  to  catch 
him  again. 

“  This  story,  now,  was  all  true  ;  that  is, 
every  thing  stated  in  it  was  according  to  fact ; 
and  yet  the  whole  was  meant  to  deceive, 
and  that  is  what  they  call  prevarication.1  ^ 
u  But  how  could  it  deceive,  if  it  was  all 
true  ?  ”  asked  Lucy. 

u  Why,  you  see,”  said  Jonas,  in  reply, 
u  that  they  said  some  boys  got  the  halter, 
and  that  was  true ;  but  then  they  them¬ 
selves  proposed  it,  and  helped  put  it  on. 
And  then  they  said  it  took  them  a  good 

y  # 


78 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


while  to  catch  the  ram,  and  that  was  true 
too  ;  but  then  they  meant  their  father  to  un¬ 
derstand,  that  that  was  the  reason  why  they 
did  not  come  home  sooner  ;  but  the  truth  was, 
they  had  stopped  to  play  a  long  time  before 
the  ram  got  away  with  their  halter.  The 
story  was  intended  to  make  their  father 
believe  that  they  were  not  much  to  blame  ; 
whereas  they  had  been  very  much  to  blame 
indeed.” 

“Yes,  I  see,”  said  Rollo. 

“  It  is  very  easy  for  boys  to  give  a  false 
idea  by  telling  what  is,  in  itself,  true  ;  and 
this  is  prevarication.” 

“  Is  prevarication  as  bad  as  to  tell  a  lie,  up 
and  down  ?  ”  asked  Rollo. 

“  I  think  it  is  very  bad,”  replied  Jonas. 

“  But  is  it  as  bad  as  lying  ?  ”  persisted 
Rollo. 

“  Some  folks  think  it  is,”  said  Jonas. 

“  But  I  want  to  know  what  you  think,” 
said  Rollo. 

“I  don’t  know,”  said  Jonas  ;  “you  had 
better  ask  your  father.” 

“  I  think  it  is  just  as  bad,”  said  Lucy. 

“  I  will  ask  my  father,”  said  Rollo. 
“  But  go  on,  Jonas.” 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


79 


“  In  the  mean  time  the  boys’  father,  after 
waiting  and  waiting,  and  finding  that  night 
was  coming  on,  and  they  did  not  return, 
went  out  into  the  barn  to  do  the  work  there, 
necessary  to  be  done  before  night,  and  which 
the  boys  ought  to  have  been  at  home  to  do. 
While  he  was  there,  and  doing  their  work,  they 
arrived,  feeling  very  anxious  and  unhappy. 
They  went  first  into  the  house  ;  there  they 
found  their  mother,  and  told  her  their  story. 
She  was  not  satisfied  with  it,  but  said  they 
must  go  to  their  father  in  the  barn.  They 
went  accordingly  into  the  barn,  and  there 
repeated  the  excuse  they  had  agreed  upon.” 

“  And  what  did  their  father  say  ?  ”  asked 
Rollo,  eagerly. 

u  He  did  not  say  any  thing.  The  boys 
observed  that  he  looked  displeased  when 
they  first  came  in ;  but  after  they  had  told 
their  story,  he  seemed  satisfied,  and  said  no 
more  about  it.  He  knew  his  boys  would 
not  tell  a  lie,  and  he  thought  they  were 
honest  in  heart  as  well  as  in  tongue,  and  did 
not  think  of  such  a  thing  as  their  artfully 
putting  together  a  story,  true  in  all  its  parts, 
and  yet  false  in  the  whole.  So  he  believed 
them,  and  by  and  by,  when  they  went  into 


so 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


the  house,  their  mother  said,  ‘  Well,  it  seems 
the  boys  have  staid  again,  when  sent  on  an 
errand;’  and  he  answered,  ‘Yes;  but  this 
time  they  appear  to  have  a  good  excuse.’ 
So  the  hoys  saw  that  their  plan  succeeded.” 

“And  so  they  did  not  get  punished?” 
said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,  they  did  get  punished.” 

“  How  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  By  the  wretched  feelings  they  endured 
for  a  long  time  in  thinking  that  they  had 
not  only  disobeyed  their  father,  but  had 
abused  the  confidence  he  placed  in  their 
honesty,  and  ungratefully  and  wickedly 
deceived  him.  Suppose  you  had  done  so, 
don’t  you  think  you  would  suffer  more  from 
thinking  of  it,  than  from  any  punishment 
your  father  would  have  been  likely  to  have 
inflicted  ?  ” 

“  Why, —  yes,”  said  Rollo. 

“  These  boys  did.  They  could  not  help 
thinking  of  it,  and  they  felt  very  wretched 
about  it  for  a  long  time.  They  determined 
that  they  would  never  be  guilty  of  prevari¬ 
cation  again,  for  it  seemed  to  them  just  as 
bad  as  lying.” 

“I  mean  to  ask  my  father  if  it  was,”  said 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


81 


Rollo,  “now ;  so  whip  up,  Jonas,  and  let  us 
overtake  him.” 

The  carryall  was  at  this  time  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  ahead  of  the  wagon,  and  Jonas,  at 
Rollo’s  request,  drove  on  to  overtake  it.  The 
back  curtain  of  the  carryall  was  up,  and 
Rollo’s  mother,  who  happened  to  hear  the 
wagon  wheels  behind  them,  looked  back, 
and  saw  Rollo  waving  his  hat  for  them  to 
stop.  His  father  accordingly  drew  up  by 
the  side  of  the  road,  and  Rollo  asked  him  to 
let  him  and  Lucy  get  into  the  carryall,  for 
he  wished  to  ask  him  a  question. 

After  they  were  seated,  Rollo  related  the 
story  to  his  father,  as  Jonas  had  told  it  to 
him ;  and  then,  in  conclusion,  he  asked  his 
father  if  he  thought  prevarication  was  just 
as  bad  as  lying.  “  Lucy  thinks  it  is,”  said  he. 

“What  does  Jonas  say  ?  ”  said  his  father. 

“He  won’t  tell  us  what  he  thinks :  he 
says  we  must  ask  you.” 

“Lucy,”  said  Rollo’s  father,  “do  you 
mean  that  you  think  it  is  fully  as  bad  as 
direct  lying,  or  only  nearly  so?  ” 

“  Why,  I  think  it  is  fully  as  bad  ;  it  seems 
to  me  it  is  just  the  same  thing.” 

“  It  is  much  the  same  thing,  in  its  nature, 


82 


THE  PREVARICATION  STORY. 


I  admit ;  but  yet  suppose  those  boys  had 
come  home,  and  had  said  directly  that  the 
other  boys  took  away  the  halter  from  them 
forcibly,  notwithstanding  all  they  could  do 
to  prevent  it,  immediately  after  they  had  got 
to  the  house,  —  thus  had  told  a  deliberate 
and  positive  lie,  would  not  that  have  been  a 
little  worse  ?  ” 

“  Why,  yes,  sir,”  said  Lucy  ;  “it  would 
have  been,  certainly.” 

“  I  think  it  would  have  been  a  little  worse, 
myself.  But  prevarication  is  a  very  great 
sin,  and  must  make  any  one  miserable  who 
is  guilty  of  it ;  and  yet,  wicked  as  it  is, 
wilful  and  deliberate  lying  is  one  step  be- 
yond  it,  in  the  career  of  depravity.” 


83 


GOING  TO  COURT. 

A  short  time  after  that  story  was  finished, 
the  whole  party  arrived  at  a  small  village,  and 
stopped  at  a  pleasant-] looking  tavern,  where 
they  were  going  to  have  dinner.  Rollo 
went  out  into  the  stable  with  Jonas  to  see 
them  take  care  of  the  horses.  The  stable  was 
on  the  other  side  of  the  street,  and  as  Rollo 
walked  across  he  looked  lip  and  down,  and 
saw  that  it  was  a  very  pretty  village,  though 
it  was  very  small.  There  was  but  one  street ; 
but  that  had  pleasant  houses  on  each  side. 
There  was  one  store  at  a  little  distance,  with 
Post-Office,  in  large  letters  over  one  of 
the  windows.  Opposite  the  store  was  a 
singular-looking  building,  in  appearance  be¬ 
tween  a  meeting-house  and  a  school-house. 
It  had  a  small  cupola  on  the  top,  with  a  bell 
in  it.  Rollo  asked  Jonas  what  it  was :  and 
Jonas  said  he  thought  it  might  be  an  academy. 

When  they  got  into  the  barn,  the  ostler 
took  the  horses  out  of  their  harness,  and  led 


84 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


them  to  a  great  tub,  nearly  full  of  water, 
which  stood  there.  He  then  took  down  a 
great  sponge,  almost  as  big  as  Rollo’s  head, 
and  began,  washing  down  one  of  the  horse’s 
legs  and  breast. 

“  Is  his  breast  tender  ?  ”  said  Jonas. 

“No,”  said  the  man,  feeling  of  the  flesh  on 
each  side,  where  the  collar  pressed  upon  it ; 
“  no,  it  seems  perfectly  well.  Y on  must  have 
taken  good  care  of  these  horses,  if  you  have 
travelled  far.” 

“  I’ve  watched  them  pretty  closely,”  said 
Jonas.  “  This  is  a  pleasant  village  of  yours 
here.” 

“  Why,  it  is  not  much  of  a  place,”  said  the 
ostler,  taking  up  another  great  %sponge  full 
of  water  out  of  the  tub  ;  —  “  but  it  is  a  shire 
town,  and  that  brings  us  a  little  business  in 
court  time.” 

“  O,  then  that  building  with  the  cupola  is 
the  court-house  ?  ” 

“  Yes,”  said  the  ostler;  “  did  not  you  see 
the  jail  beyond  it  ?  ” 

“No,”  said  Jonas,  “I  did  not  observe  it. 
Is  court  sitting  now  ?  ” 

“No,  it  rose  last  week,”  said  the  ostler. 

In  a  short  time  the  horses  were  both 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


85 


washed  and  put  into  their  places,  and  well 
supplied  with  hay  and  oats.  Jonas  asked 
Kollo  if  he  should  like  to  walk  over  and  see 
the  court-house  while  they  were  getting 
dinner  ready.  Rollo  said  ‘  yes/  of  course, 
and  after  obtaining  his  father’s  leave,  they 
went  along. 

“  What  is  a  shire  town,  Jonas?”  said 
Rollo. 

“  It  is  a  county  town  ;  that  is,  the  one  that 
has  the  court-house  of  the  county  in  it,” 
said  Jonas. 

“  I  should  not  think  this  town  was  big 
enough  to  have  a  court-house,”  replied 
Kollo.  “  I  have  seen  a  good  many  bigger 
towns  than  this,  that  had  no  court-house.” 

“  The  court-house  does  not  belong  to  the 
town,”  said  Jonas;  “it  belongs  to  the 
county.” 

“  County !  ”  said  Kollo  ;  “  what  is  a 

county  ?  ” 

u  It  is  a  good  many  towns  united  together, 
and  they  have  one  court  for  all.” 

“  Which  town  do  they  have  the  court 
in  ?  ”  said  Kollo. 

“  In  some  one  near  the  middle,  where 
they  can  all  come  conveniently  ;  so  that  it 
8 


86  GOING  TO  COURT. 

very  often  happens  that  there  are  other  towns 
in  the  county  larger  than  the  one  which  has 
the  court-house  in  it.” 

“What  do  they  do  in  a  court-house?” 
said  Rollo. 

“  O,  they  try  criminals,  and  they  settle 
disputes  about  land  and  money,  and  debts, 
and  all  other  disputes  j  and  they  keep  a  reg¬ 
ular  account  of  various  things,  such  as  all 
the  land  that  is  sold,  and  all  the  wills,  and 
attend  to  making  roads  through  the  county, 
and  all  such  things.  They  have  a  jail  near 
to  keep  the  prisoners  safe  in.” 

Just  then  they  came  pretty  near  to  the 
court-house,  and  they  saw  a  small  stone 
building  behind  it,  with  grated  windows. 
At  one  of  the  windows  Rollo  thought  he 
saw  something  moving,  behind  the  grating. 
It  was  rather  dark  in  there,  and  they  could 
not  see  very  well  at  first  ;  but,  on  looking 
more  attentively,  they  saw  it  ivas  the  face 
of  a  man.  He  looked  haggard  and  fierce, 
with  bushy  hair  and  rough  beard  ;  after 
looking  out  a  minute  or  two,  he  disappeared. 

“Perhaps  he  is  a  murderer,”  said  Rollo, 
looking  alarmed. 

“  No,”  said  Jonas,  “  I  don’t  think  there 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


87 


have  been  any  murders  committed  here  for 
a  long  time  ;  —  but  he  may  be  a  thief,  wait¬ 
ing  for  his  trial ;  or  perhaps  he  is  tried  and 
condemned,  and  is  shut  up  there  for  pun¬ 
ishment.” 

The  boys  walked  on,  and  entered  the 
court-house,  the  front  door  being  open. 
They  found  themselves,  when  they  had 
entered,  in  a  large  entry,  with  several  doors 
on  each  side,  leading  to  the  several  rooms, 
and  a  large  staircase  in  front.  Over  one 
of  the  doors  was  a  sign  in  large  letters, 
Register  of  Deeds  ;  over  another,  Pro¬ 
bate  Office  ;  and  there  was  a  third, 
with  County  Commissioners  over  it.  Rollo 
asked  Jonas  what  these  all  meant ;  but  Jonas 
said  he  did  not  understand  very  well. 

“  I  never  was  in  a  court-house  but  once 
before,”  said  Jonas,  “and  I  do  not  under¬ 
stand  county  business  very  well ;  but  let  us 
go  up  stairs.” 

“  Will  they  let  us  ?  ”  said  Rollo,  timidly, 
and  hanging  back. 

“Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “I  guess  so:  at  any 
rate  we  will  try.” 

Rollo,  seeing  that  Jonas  was  going  up, 
boldly  concluded  to  follow.  The  flight  of 


88 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


stairs  turned  at  right  angles  once  or  twice, 
and  then  conducted  them  to  a  landing  where 
there  was  a  large  double  door. 

“  This  is  the  court-room,  I  suppose,”  said 
Jonas,  taking  hold  of  the  latch  of  the  door. 

But  he  could  not  open  it ;  it  was  locked. 

The  boys  peeped  through  the  key-hole, 
and  saw  a  sort  of  low,  long  pulpit  at  the 
opposite  end.  In  front  of  the  pulpit  was  a 
desk,  with  a  seat  behind  it. 

aO,  what  a  long  pulpit !  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Pulpit !  ”  said  Jonas  ;  “  that  is  not  the 
pulpit.  That  is  the  bench ,  where  the  judges 
sit.” 

“  Is  it?”  said  Rollo;  “  and  what  is  that 
desk  before  it  ?  ” 

u  That  is  where  the  clerks  sit,  and  write 
down  every  thing  that  is  done  in  court.” 

“  Do  they?”  said  Rollo  ;  “  what,  every 
thing  ?  ” 

“  Pretty  much,  I  believe,”  said  Jonas. 

Rollo  could  see  some  seats  in  the  middle 
of  the  floor  of  the  court-house,  through  the 
key-hole  ;  but  he  could  not  see  at  all,  at  the 
sides,  the  key-hole  was  so  small.  Presently, 
Jonas  proposed  that  they  should  go  up 
another  flight  of  stairs  still,  for  there  was 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


89 


one  leading  to  the  story  above.  They  did 
so,  and  here  they  found  a  door  which  Jonas 
opened,  and  he  and  Rollo  walked  in,  and 
found  themselves  in  a  little  gallery  of  the 
court-room,  from  which  they  could  look 
down  upon  the  whole  door.  They  could 
see  the  bench,  and  the  desks,  and  the  seats 
for  the  lawyers  in  front.  These  lawyers’ 
seats  occupied  almost  the  whole  of  the 
middle  of  the  court-room,  and  all  of  them 
had  little  desks  before  them.  Behind  these 
lawyers’  seats  was  a  curious-looking  sort  of  a 
pew,  with  iron  pickets  all  around  the  top  of 
it.  Jonas  said  that  was  called  the  bar,  where 
they  put  the  criminals  when  they  were  tried, 
and  that  a  man  with  a  long  pole  stood  at  the 
door  of  the  pew,  whenever  prisoners  were 
there,  to  keep  them  from  getting  away. 

Rollo  found  four  more  pews ,  as  he  called 
them,  in  looking  around  the  room.  Two 
were  on  each  side,  opposite  to  the  lawyers’ 
desks,  back  against  the  wall.  There  was 
an  aisle  between  them  and  the  lawyers’  seats. 
They  fronted  in,  towards  the  middle  of  the 
room,  so  that  those  who  sat  in  them  would 
face  the  lawyers,  and  almost  face  the  judge. 

8  * 


90 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


Rollo  asked  what  these  were  for,  and  Jonas 
told  him  for  the  jury. 

“What  do  the  jury  do?”  said  Rollo. 

“  O,  they  hear  the  evidence,  and  decide 
whether  the  man  is  guilty  or  not.” 

“  But  I  thought  the  judge  decided,”  said 
Rollo. 

“  No,  the  judge  decides  about  the  law, 
and  he  sees  that  the  poor  criminal  has  a  fair 
trial ;  but  the  jury  decide  whether  he  is  guilty 
or  innocent.  There  are  twelve  men  in  a 
jury.  One  jury  sits  in  the  seats  on  one  side, 
and  the  other  on  the  other.” 

“  What  do  they  want  two  juries  for  ?  ” 
said  Rollo. 

“  Why,  while  one  has  gone  out  to  consider 
one  case,  and  decide  it,  the  judge  and  the 
lawyers  can  be  going  on  with  another.” 

“  But  the  new  jury  might  take  the  same 
seats.” 

“No,”  said  Jonas,  “it  is  more  convenient 
to  have  other  seats,  and  then  they  can  be 
getting  together  before  the  others  go  out.” 

Here  the  boys  paused,  and  looked  around 
for  some  time  ;  and  at  length  Rollo  espied  a 
little  platform  near  the  jury  seats,  one  on 
each  side,  with  a  sort  of  railing  in  front  of 


GOING  TO  COURT. 


91 


it,  as  if  for  a  person  to  lean  upon.  Jonas  told 
him  that  was  the  stand  where  the  witnesses 
stood  while  they  were  telling  their  stories. 

“  How  curious  it  is !  ”  said  Rollo.  “  I 
should  like  to  hear  a  court.” 

“  Hear  a  trial,  you  mean,”  said  Jonas.  “  I 
did,  once.” 

“  Did  you  ?  ”  said  Rollo.  “  Tell  me  about  it.” 

“  Not  now,”  said  Jonas;  “it  is  time  for 
us  to  go  home  ;  but  perhaps  I  will  this  after¬ 
noon,  in  the  wagon.” 

“  Well,”  said  Rollo,  “  that  will  be  capital  ; 
and  I  will  tell  Lucy  all  about  the  court-room 
beforehand,  and  then  she  will  understand  the 
story  better.” 

When  they  got  back  to  the  tavern,  Rollo, 
finding  that  dinner  was  not  quite  ready, 
took  Lucy  to  the  window,  and  showed  her 
the  court-house ;  and  then  he  explained  to 
her  all  about  the  arrangement  of  the  interior 
of  the  court-room.  Lie  made  a  drawing 
upon  a  piece  of  paper,  and  marked  down 
the  judges’  bench,  the  clerk’s  desk,  the  law¬ 
yers’  seats,  the  jury  seats,  and  the  stand  — 
all  in  their  proper  places.  Lucy  was  very 
glad  that  Jonas  was  going  to  tell  them  a 
story  of  a  trial  that  afternoon. 


92 


THE  TRIAL. 


u  One  day,  as  I  was  travelling  through  the 
country  with  a  horse  and  wagon  of  your 
father’s,  Rollo,  —  it  was  this  very  wagon,  but 
another  horse,  —  I  found  the  horse  went 
lame  a  little,  about  the  middle  of  the  fore¬ 
noon.  I  drove  on  carefully,  until  I  came  to 
a  blacksmith’s  shop,  by  the  side  of  the  road. 
The  blacksmith  examined  the  horse’s  foot, 
and  said  it  was  nothing  but  some  gravel  that 
had  got  under  his  shoe.  So  he  took  off  the 
shoe,  and  put  it  on  again,  and  I  drove  on. 
The  horse  went  very  well  for  an  hour  or 
two,  but  then  began  to  go  lame  again,  and 
his  lameness  increased  very  fast,  until  I 
arrived  at  a  pretty  large  village,  where  I 
expected  to  stop  to  dinner. 

“  I  drove  directly  to  a  blacksmith’s  shop  in 
the  village.  It  was  quite  a  large  shop,  and 
the  master  blacksmith  seemed  to  be  a  very 
good  workman.  He  looked  at  my  horse’s 
foot,  and  said  the  shoe  was  not  put  on 


THE  TRIAL. 


93 


properly,  but  that  he  could  easily  fix  it. 
He  told  me,  however,  that  the  foot  was  quite 
tender' in  one  place,  and  that  I  had  better 
not  drive  him  any  farther  that  day,  but  let 
him  rest  until  the  next  morning. 

“  I  was  in  haste  to  get  home  ;  but  still  I 
knew  it  was  wrong  to  run  the  risk  of  doing 
injury  to  the  horse,  and  so  I  concluded  to 
wait  there  until  the  next  day.  I  accord¬ 
ingly  drove  to  the  tavern,  put  up  the  wagon, 
and  then  led  the  horse  back  to  the  black¬ 
smith’s,  and  left  him  there.  When  I  returned 
to  the  tavern,  I  asked  them  what  time  they 
should  have  dinner.  They  told  me,  ‘  Imme¬ 
diately  after  the  court  rises.’  ‘  What  court  ?  ’ 
said  I.  ‘  I  don’t  know,’  said  the  girl  who 
was  telling  me  ;  £  it  is  the  court  that  sits 
in  this  place,  every  now  and  then.’  I  asked 
her  where  the  court-house  was,  and  she 
pointed  out  to  me  a  building  with  a  cupola 
upon  it,  in  a  little  square  among  some  trees 
across  a  little  common,  opposite  to  the 
tavern  door. 

“I  sat  down  on  a  small  bench  under  the 
piazza  before  the  front  door,  watching  the 
court-house.  I  saw  people  standing  about 
the  doors,  and  sometimes  one  going  in  or 


94 


THE  TRIAL. 


coming  out ;  but  before  long  a  great  crowd 
came  pouring  out  together,  and  so  I  knew 
the  court  had  risen.  The  people  went 
away  in  different  directions,  though  a  con¬ 
siderable  number  of  them  came  across  the 
common,  towards  the  tavern.  At  the  same 
time  I  heard  a  bustle  in  the  house  behind 
me,  and  looking  in  at  the  entry,  I  saw  them 
carrying  in  the  dinner,  and  going  busily  to 
and  fro. 

“  A  minute  or  two  after  these  people 
reached  the  house,  a  bell  rang  in  the  entry, 
and  we  all  went  in  to  dinner.  The  dinner- 
table  was  very  long.  I  never  saw  such  a 
long  dinner-table.  It  reached  through  two 
rooms,  with  great  double  doors  between 
them,  which  were  opened  so  as  to  throw  the 
two  rooms  into  one.  I  went  in  with  the  rest, 
and  took  my  seat.  As  I  did  not  know  any 
body  there,  I  did  not  talk  much,  but  listened 
to  hear  what  the  rest  said.  I  could  not 
understand  very  well  what  they  were  talk¬ 
ing  about  all  the  time ;  but  just  before  the 
dinner  was  ended,  one  man  opposite  to  me 
asked  another  man,  whom  he  called  Mr. 
Sparr,  whether  there  was  not  a  criminal  case 
coming  on  that  afternoon.  Mr.  Sparr  said 


THE  TRIAL. 


95 


there  was  a  man  to  be  tried  for  stealing,  he 
believed.  They  talked  a  little  more  about 
it,  and  I  wanted  very  much  to  go  and  hear 
the  trial ;  but  I  did  not  know  whether  they 
would  let  me  in. 

“  After  dinner,  I  saw  the  man  who  said 
there  was  going  to  be  a  trial,  standing  at  the 
door,  and  I  asked  him  if  any  body  might  go 
and  hear  the  trial.  ‘  O,  yes,’  said  he,  ‘  you  can 
go  if  you  wish  to.’  I  then  asked  him  what 
it  was  that  the  man  stole.  He  laughed,  and 
said  that  he  did  not  know  that  he  stole  any 
thing,  but  he  believed  he  was  accused  of 
stealing  some  spoons.” 

u  What  did  he  laugh  for  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Why,  I  suppose,  because  I  spoke  as  if 
the  man  was  certainly  guilty,  when  he  had 
not  been  tried.  I  asked  him  how  soon  the 
court  would  begin,  and  he  said  in  about  half 
an  hour. 

u  I  then  went  over  to  see  how  the  black¬ 
smith  was  getting  along  with  my  horse.  I 
found  him  ready,  and  led  him  back  to  the 
stable.  Just  as  I  had  seen  him  comfortably 
fixed  there,  with  his  oats  and  his  hay  before 
him,  I  heard  a  bell  tolling  in  a  very  curious 

55 


manner. 


96 


THE  TRIAL. 


“  How  ? 77  interrupted  Rollo. 

“  O,  it  went  ding-ding-ding-ding-ding- 
ding,  almost  as  fast  as  it  could  go.  I  ran 
out  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  and  found 
all  the  people  going  to  court.  I  followed  on. 
We  went  across  the  common,  and  thence  into 
the  court-house.  I  went  in  with  the  rest, 
and  stood  near  the  door.  After  the  judges, 
and  the  clerks,  and  the  lawyers  were  all 
seated,  and  the  room  was  pretty  still,  the 
judge  ordered  the  prisoner  to  be  brought  in. 

“  Then  the  sheriff  went  out  for  him.  The 
sheriff  had  a  stout,  painted  pole  in  his  hands, 
and  he  had  a  little  box  or  pew,  where  he  sat 
near  the  prisoner,  when  he  had  brought  him 
in,  and  put  him  at  the  bar.77 

“  Is  that  the  sheriffs  business  ? 77  said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,77  replied  Jonas.  “  He  has  the  care 
of  the  prisoners,  and  brings  them  in,  and 
takes  them  out ;  and  he  keeps  order  in  the 
court,  and  does  other  things  which  the  judge 
wants  to  have  done.  The  sheriff  went  out, 
and  presently  came  in  at  a  side  door  with 
the  prisoner.  He  put  him  to  the  bar,  and 
then  took  his  own>  place. 

“  The  prisoner  was  a  poor-looking  man  ; 
his  name  was  Eben  Daniell,  and  I  thought 


THE  TRIAL. 


97 


he  looked  guilty  before  they  began  to  try 
him.  However,  they  began  soon  ;  for  pres¬ 
ently  a  man,  who  sat  pretty  near  the  judge, 
rose  and  read  the  indictment.” 

“  The  indictment !  ”  said  Lucy  ;  “  what  is 
that  ?  ” 

“  That  is  the  accusation.  It  was  cjuite  a 
long  paper,  accusing  the  man  of  breaking 
into  a  house,  and  stealing  six  silver  spoons.” 

“  Did  he?  —  break  into  a  house!”  said 
Rollo,  in  a  tone  of  surprise. 

“  That  was  what  he  was  accused  of  doing, 
in  the  indictment.” 

“  How  did  you  know  they  called  it  an 
indictment  ?  ”  asked  Lucy. 

O,  I  didn’t  know  then.  I  asked  a  man 
in  the  evening,  at  the  tavern,  and  he  told  me 
all  about  it,  and  so  a  good  many  tilings  which 
I  shall  explain  to  you,  as  I  go  along,  I  did 
not  understand  exactly,  when  I  was  in  the 
court,  but  learned  about  them  afterwards.” 

“  Very  well,”  said  Rollo,  “  go  on.” 

u  After  the  indictment  was  read,  a  lawyer, 
who  was  sitting  at  one  of  the  desks  before 
the  judge,  got  up,  and  began  to  tell  what  the 
criminal  had  done.  He  said  he  stole  the 
spoons,  and  carried  them  into  another  town 
9 


98 


THE  TRIAL. 


to  sell,  and  that  he  was  going  to  prove  it  all 
by  witnesses.” 

“  Who  was  he  ?  ”  asked  Lucy  ;  “  and  what 
had  he  to  do  with  it  ?  ” 

u  He  was  the  state’s  attorney.  You  see 
the  government  of  the  state  choose  a  lawyer 
to  accuse  criminals,  and  have  them  tried  in 
the  courts,  and  then  they  find  the  witnesses, 
and  have  them  brought  into  court,  and  ask 
them  questions,  so  as  to  show  the  jury  what 
the  man  has  done  j  and  this  man  is  called 
the  state’s  attorney.  So,  you  see,  he  first  got 
up  and  told  the  jury  what  his  witnesses  were 
going  to  prove. 

“After  he  had  done,  the  judge  told  him 
to  bring  his  witnesses  on,  and  he  said  his 
first  witness  was  Richard  Stone.  So  a  cer¬ 
tain  officer  of  the  court  called  Richard  Stone, 
and  a  man  came  forward  and  took  his  place 
on  the  witness’s  stand.  Before  he  began, 
the  judge  asked  who  was  counsel  for  the 
prisoner,  and  as  the  prisoner  had  none,  the 
judge  appointed  one  for  him.” 

“  What  was  that  for  ?  ”  asked  Rollo. 

“  Why,  common  men  don’t  understand 
courts,  and  would  not  know  how  to  defend 
themselves  if  they  were  accused  there 


THE  TRIAL. 


99 


unjustly.  So  they  generally  get  a  law¬ 
yer,  who  knows  all  about  it,  to  manage 
their  cause  for  them.  The  lawyer  they  em¬ 
ploy  is  called  their  counsel.  And  when 
they  are  poor,  and  cannot  employ  a  lawyer, 
or  are  so  ignorant  that  they  don’t  know 
any  thing  about  it,  the  judge  appoints  some 
one  there  to  be  their  counsel.  So  the  judge 
appointed  a  counsel  for  the  prisoner  this  time.” 

“  What  was  his  name  ?  ” 

“  Mr.  Sparr,”  said  Jonas. 

“  What,  the  same  man  that  you  saw  at 
the  tavern  ?  ” 

u  Yes,”  said  Jonas,  u  the  very  same  man. 
I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  I  saw  him  sitting 
among  the  lawyers.  When  he  came  in,  he 
found  me  standing  near  the  door,  and  he 
showed  me  where  I  might  sit.  It  was  a 
little  behind  the  prisoner,  a  very  good  place, 
where  I  could  see  and  hear  very  well.  But 
it  seems  to  me,  now,  that  the  judge  appointed 
him  before,  when  the  trial  first  began.  And 
then  Mr.  Sparr  came  to  the  prisoner,  and 
talked  with  him  a  little  while  in  a  low  voice, 
and  then  sent  somebody  out.  I  did  not 
know  what  for  till  afterwards. 

Now,  you  see,  it  was  the  duty  of  the 


100 


THE  TRIAL. 

state’s  attorney  to  bring  forward  every  thing 
that  went  to  prove  the  prisoner  guilty,  and  it 
was  Mr.  S parr’s  duty  to  show  all  the  evi¬ 
dence  there  was  that  he  was  innocent,  and 
then  the  jury  were  to  judge  between  them. 

“  Well,  as  I  was  saying,  Mr.  Richard  Stone 
was  the  first  man  that  was  called.  The 
state’s  attorney  asked  him  to  tell  the  jury 
about  his  house  being  broken  open.  So  he 
told  his  story,  and  it  was  this  :  —  He  said 
that  Eben  Daniell,  the  prisoner,  lived  in  his 
neighborhood,  and  had  been  at  his  house 
one  day  the  last  winter  to  saw  wood. 

6  The  next  day,’  said  he,  c  I  was  going  out 
of  town  with  my  whole  family,  to  take  a 
sleigh-ride,  and  so  I  shut  up  the  house,  fast¬ 
ening  all  the  windows,  and  locking  all  the 
doors.  When  we  came  home  in  the  even¬ 
ing  of  the  next  day,  and  had  built  a  fire,  my 
wife  went  into  the  parlor-closet,  and  called 
out  to  me  to  say  that  the  window  was  brok¬ 
en.  I  went  in,  and  saw  that  a  pane  of  glass 
was  broken,  and  very  near  the  place  where 
the  window  was  fastened.  I  saw  also  that 
the  fastening  was  taken  out,  and  so  I  sus¬ 
pected  that  somebody  had  been  breaking  in. 
I  told  her  to  look  around,  and  see  if  she 


I 


THE  TRIAL.  101 

missed  any  thing.  She  immediately  looked 
for  her  spoons,  and  cried  out  that  they  were 
all  gone,  —  every  one  of  them.  I  imme¬ 
diately  suspected  Daniell,  and,  in  fact,  the 
next  morning  Captain  James  told  me’  — 

“  Here  Mr.  Sparr  suddenly  called  upon  Mr. 
Stone,  the  witness,  to  stop.  He  said  he  must 
not  tell  what  he  heard  other  people  say.” 

“  Why  not  ?  ”  said  Lucy. 

“  Because  they  don’t  allow  a  witness  to 
tell  what  he  heard  other  people  say,  in 
court.” 

“  I  don’t  see  why,”  said  Lucy. 

“  Why,  there  are  so  many  false  stories 
told,  that  they  could  not  tell  what  to  be¬ 
lieve  ;  so  they  make  each  man  come  into 
court,  and  tell  what  he  himself  saw,  and 
then  he  can  be  cross-examined.” 

“  What  does  that  mean  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

u  Why,  have  questions  asked  him  by  the 
other  side,  to  find  out  whether  he  is  honest 
and  fair.  When  the  lawyer  that  brings  a 
witness  forward  has  done  asking  him  ques¬ 
tions,  they  always  let  the  lawyer  on  the 
other  side  ask  him  questions  too,  to  see 
whether  he  will  not  contradict  himself,  or 
else  to  get  more  information.” 

9  * 


102 


THE  TRIAL. 


“  Did  they  cross-examine  Mr.  Richard 
Stone  ?  ” 

/ 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas.  “  After  he  had  done 
telling  his  story,  the  judge  said  that  Mr. 
Sparr  might  ask  him  any  questions  he 
wished  to  ask ;  and  he  asked  him  how  his 
window  was  fastened,  and  he  said,  by  a  nail 
put  into  a  hole  over  the  top  of  it.  Then  he 
asked  him  if  he  was  positively  sure  that  he 
put  the  nail  into  that  window  the  morning 
before  he  went  away,  and  he  said  he  was  ; 
he  was  particular  to  fasten  that  closet  win¬ 
dow,  for  all  his  wife’s  silver  spoons  were  in 
that  closet. 

“  Then  Mr.  Richard  Stone  stepped  down 
from  the  stand,  and  walked  away.” 

“  I  wish  they  had  let  him  tell  what  Cap¬ 
tain  James  said,”  said  Rollo. 

“  You  will  hear  presently,”  said  Jonas, 
“  for  Captain  James  was  the  next  witness 
called.  You  see  it  is  a  great  deal  better  to 
have  him  come  himself  upon  the  stand,  and 
tell  his  own  story  there,  for  then  they  get  it 
more  direct,  and  they  also  can  question  him 
very  closely  about  it,  if  it  is  necessary.  So 
Captain  James  took  his  place  upon  the  stand, 


THE  TRIAL. 


103 


and  the  state’s  attorney  asked  him  to  tell 
the  jury  all  he  knew  about  the  case. 

“ 1  Well,’  said  he,  1  the  night  that  Mr. 
Stone  went  away,  I  was  going  home  about 
ten  o’clock  by  his  house,  and  I  saw  a  man 
stand  right  in  front  of  it,  just  before  I  came 
along.  I  stopped  a  minute  to  see  what  he 
was  doing,  and  then  I  walked  on  towards 
him.  As  soon  as  he  saw  me,  he  began  to 
walk  away.  I  followed  him,  taking  very 
long  and  quick  steps,  and  yet  walking  soft¬ 
ly,  so  as  not  to  appear  to  be  walking  fast ; 
and  so  I  gained  upon  him.  But  presently, 
when  he  saw  I  was  coming  up  to  him,  he 
began  to  walk  faster,  and  so  he  got  away. 
But  I  knew  him  well  enough.’ 

“‘  Who  was  it?’  asked  the  state’s  at¬ 
torney. 

“  ‘  It  was  Eben  Daniell,  there.’ 

“Here  the  judge  asked  Mr.  Sparr  if  he 
had  any  questions  to  ask. 

“  ‘  How  could  you  possibly  know  who  it 
was,  at  ten  o’clock  at  night?  ’ 

“  ‘  O,  I  can  tell  Eben  as  far  as  I  can  see 
him,’  said  Captain  James.  £  Besides,  it  was 
a  bright  moonlight  night,  and  I  got  pretty 
near  to  him  at  one  time.’ 


104 


THE  TRIAL. 

“  ‘  Are  yon  perfectly  sure  it  was  he  ?  ’ 

“  £  Yes,  perfectly  sure,’  said  he. 

“  ‘  Is  that  all  you  know  about  it  ?  ’  said 
Mr.  Sparr. 

“  ‘  Yes;  I  knew  nothing  more  till  I  heard 
the  next  day  —  ’ 

“  ‘  No  matter  what  you  heard  the  next 
day  ;  we  only  want  you  to  tell  us  what  you 
saw  yourself.’ 

“  The  state’s  attorney  then  said  that  the 
next  witness’s  name  was  John  Case.  So 
Mr.  John  Case  was  called. 

“  ‘  Where  do  you  live,  Mr.  Case  ?  ’  said  the 
state’s  attorney. 

“‘In  the  town  of  Yarmouth,’  said  Mr. 
Case. 

£  How  far  is  Yarmouth  from  the  town 
that  Mr.  Stone  lives  in?’ 

“  ‘  About  twenty  miles.’ 

“  ‘  And  what  is  your  business,  Mr. 
Case  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  I  am  a  watchmaker  and  silversmith.’ 

“  ‘Have  you  ever  seen  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar  ?  ’ 

“‘Yes,  sir;  he  called  at  my  store  last 
winter  to  sell  me  some  spoons.’ 

“  ‘  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  tell 


THE  TRIAL. 


105 


the  jury  about  that  call,  and  what  took  place 
between  you  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  He  brought  some  spoons,  which  he  said 
he  wanted  to  sell  me.  There  were  half  a 
dozen  of  them.  They  were  bruised,  and 
broken,  and  battered,  and  they  looked  as  if 
the  marks  had  been  scraped  off.  1  asked 
him  how  they  came  in  that  condition,  and 
he  said  that  they  were  some  that  had  got 
spoiled  in  his  house  ;  that  he  had  two  dozen 
in  all,  and  that  this  half-dozen  had  got 
broken  and  spoiled  by  his  children,  and  now 
he  wanted  to  sell  them. 

“  1 1  thought  that  story  was  not  very  prob¬ 
able,  and  in  fact,  1  concluded  that  such  a  man 
as  he,  would  not  be  very  likely  to  have 
any  silver  spoons  at  all,  unless  he  came  by 
them  dishonestly.  So  I  told  him  I  would 
take  one  of  them  into  my  back  shop,  and 
see  how  good  silver  it  was ;  and  there  I  sent 
off  one  of  my  workmen  for  an  officer.  The 
officer  came  and  arrested  the  man,  and  then 
when  we  questioned  him,  he  contradicted 
himself  so  much,  that  we  took  him  before 
a  magistrate,  and  had  him  committed  to 
prison. 5 

“  ‘  And  what  became  of  the  spoons  ?  ’ 


106 


THE  TRIAL. 

We  sent  them  back  to  Mr.  Stone.’ 

“  Then  came  the  cross-examination.  Mr. 
Sparr  wanted  to  know  what  it  was  that 
made  him  suspect  this  man  did  not  come 
honestly  by  his  spoons,  —  the  looks  of  the 
spoons,  or  the  looks  of  the  man,  or  his  story, 
or  what.  He  said  it  was  all  three  taken 
together.  Mr.  Sparr  next  asked  whether  it 
did  not  often  happen  that  people  brought 
him  old  spoons  to  sell.  He  said  it  did. 

‘  And  don’t  they  sometimes  look  as  bad  as 
these  which  this  man  brought  ?  ’  continued 
Mr.  Sparr.  ‘  Why,  yes,  sir,’  said  Mr.  Case, 

4  they  sometimes  do.’ 

“  The  state’s  attorney  now  said  he  had 
got  through  with  all  his  witnesses  against 
the  prisoner,  but  that  by  and  by  he  should 
have  some  remarks  to  make  about  their  tes¬ 
timony,  and  about  the  case  generally. 

u  The  judge  then  asked  Mr.  Sparr  if  he 
had  any  evidence  to  bring  forward  in  favor 
of  the  prisoner.  He  said  they  had  sent  for 
a  witness,  and  expected  her  every  moment  ; 
and,  as  he  was  speaking,  he  looked  round 
towards  the  door,  and,  seeing  a  bonnet  there 
coming  in,  he  said,  1  She  is  coming  now,  I 
presume.’ 


THE  TRIAL. 


107 


“  The  woman  came  in,  and  was  called  to 
the  stand.” 

“  Do  women  go  to  court  ?  ”  asked  Lucy. 

“  Yes,  sometimes,”  said  Jonas,  “  when 
they  want  them  to  be  witnesses.  This 
woman’s  name  was  Mrs.  Hannah  Lane. 
When  she  came  upon  the  stand,  the  first 
question  that  Mr.  Sparr  asked  her  was, 
where  she  lived,  and  what  her  business  was. 
She  said  she  lived  in  that  town,  and  that  she 
kept  boarders  ;  and  she  went  on  to  say,  in 
answer  to  the  other  questions,  that  Eben 
Daniell  boarded  at  her  house,  and  that  he 
was  at  home  all  the  night  of  the  robbery. 
4  He  came  home  to  supper,’  she  said,  ‘at  the 
regular  time,  and  staid  there,  sawing  wood 
for  her  all  the  evening.’ 

‘“How  late  did  he  stay?’  asked  Mr. 
Sparr. 

“  ‘  Till  he  went  to  bed.’ 

“  ‘  Did  you  see  him  next  morning  ? 

‘  Yes  ;  he  came  out  of  his  room  just  be¬ 
fore  breakfast,  as  he  commonly  did.’ 

“  Then  the  judge  asked  the  state’s  attor¬ 
ney  if  he  wanted  to  ask  any  questions,  and 
he  said  he  did.  So  he  turned  round  towards 
the  woman,  and  said. 


108 


THE  TRIAL. 


“ 1  Mrs.  Lane,  what  time  was  it  that  Mr. 
Daniell  went  to  bed  that  night  ?  ’ 
u  1  About  nine  o’clock,’  said  she. 

“  1  How  was  his  room  situated  ?  ’ 

<((He  slept  in  a  long  chamber  over  a 
shed,  with  some  other  men.  There  were 
two  beds  there.’ 

“  ‘  And  where  were  the  stairs  that  led  up 
into  that  chamber  ?  ’ 

u  L  They  were  out  in  the  shed.’ 
u  1  Then  how  could  you  know  when  he 
went  to  bed  ?  ’ 

“  £  Why,  he  went  out,  and  told  my  hus¬ 
band  and  me  that  he  was  going  to  bed.  So 
I  suppose  he  did.’ 

u  ‘  Ah,  that  is  it,  then  !  ’  said  the  state’s 
attorney;  ‘  very  well.’  So  Mrs.  Lane  went 
away,  and  Mr.  Sparr  said  he  had  no  more 
witnesses  to  bring  forward.” 

“  And  was  that  the  end  of  the  trial?” 
said  Rollo. 

(£No,  then  came  the  arguments.” 

“  The  arguments  !  what  are  they  ?  ” 

“  Why,  each  lawyer  makes  a  speech  to  the 
jury,  about  the  case, — the  state’s  attorney 
trying  to  make  them  believe  that  the  pris¬ 
oner  is  guilty,  and  his  counsel  for  the  pris- 


THE  TRIAL. 


109 


oner  tries  to  prove  that  he  is  innocent.  The 
state’s  attorney  made  his  speech  first.” 

“  And  what  did  he  say?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“I  can’t  remember  it  all,”  said  Jonas; 
u  but  it  was  like  this  :  — 

,  u  ‘  Gentlemen  of  the  jury, 

“  ‘  You  have  heard  the  evidence  against 
the  prisoner.  The  evidence  against  him  is 
not  direct, — it  is  circumstantial;  i.  e.  it  is 
the  evidence  of  circumstances,  and  that  is 
all  the  evidence  we  can  generally  get 
against  criminals,  for  they  take  good  care 
to  commit  their  crimes  when  there  are  no 
persons  to  see  them ;  so  that  all  we  have  to 
judge  from,  is  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 
In  this  instance  they  are  strong  enough  to 
prove  very  certainly  that  this  man  committed 
the  robbery. 

u<In  the  first  place,  gentlemen,  Mr.  Stone 
testifies  that  he  locked  up  his  house,  and 
fastened  all  his  windows  carefully,  intending 
to  be  gone  away  from  home  one  night.  He 
says  also  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  knew 
that  he  was  going.  When  he  came  home, 
he  found  his  window  broken  open,  and  his 
spoons  were  missing.  You  cannot  doubt 
that  all  this  is  true,  for  Mr.  Stone  is  well 
10 


110 


THE  TRIAL. 


known  to  be  an  honest  and  trust-worthy 
man,  and  he  coidd  not  be  mistaken  about 
these  facts. 

“  6  Then,  gentlemen,  Captain  James  is  per¬ 
fectly  sure  that  he  saw  the  prisoner  prowling 
about  Mr.  Stone’s  house,  the  very  night 
when  the  robbery  must  have  been  com¬ 
mitted.  It  was  very  late,  and  the  hour,  the 
place,  and  the  man’s  guilty  looks  and  move¬ 
ments  all  seem  to  show  that  he  was  there 
for  no  good  purpose. 

“  e  Finally,  gentlemen,  Mr.  Case,  a  very 
respectable  watchmaker  from  a  neighboring 
town,  tells  you  that  this  very  man  came  and 
offered  these  very  spoons  to  him  for  sale,  all 
broken  and  battered,  and  with  the  mark 
scraped  off.  It  seems  he  did  not  dare  to 
offer  them  for  sale  so  near,  and  so  he  carried 
them  twenty  miles  away,  thinking  that  that 
would  be  so  far  that  there  would  be  no 
danger  of  his  detection. 

“  ‘  But  Mr.  Case  was  not  to  be  deceived 
so  easily.  He  saw  through  his  story  at  once, 
and  had  him  immediately  arrested.  And 
now,  the  only  evidence  which  his  counsel 
can  offer  in  his  favor  is  Mrs.  Lane’s  ;  and  all 
she  knows  is,  that  he  went  out,  as  if  he  was 


THE  TRIAL. 


Ill 


going  to  bed,  about  nine  o’clock.  He  may 
have  gone  up  into  his  room,  or  he  may  not. 
Or,  if  he  had  gone  up,  he  might  easily  have 
come  down  again,  without  her  knowing  any 
thing  about  it.  I  think,  gentlemen,  you 
must  be  clearly  convinced  that  the  prisoner  is 
guilty,  notwithstanding  all  that  his  counsel 
may  say  in  his  defence.’ 

u  Here  the  attorney  sat  down,  and  Mr. 
Sparr  arose  to  make  his  speech  in  favor  of 
the  prisoner.” 

“  I  should  not  think  he  could  have  a  word 
to  say,”  said  Rollo. 

“  O,  yes,”  said  Jonas,  “they  always  have 
something  to  say,  I  believe  ;  and  Mr.  Sparr 
made  quite  a  speech.  It  was  something 
like  this  :  — 

“  1 1  must  confess,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
that  appearances  are  somewhat  against  the 
prisoner.  But  we  cannot  always  judge  from 
first  appearances.  And  yet  all  that  they 
have  brought  forward  are  only  appearances, 
which  may,  after  all,  be  false.  They  have 
failed  altogether  in  proving  positively  that 
my  client  stole  the  spoons.’  ” 

“  What  did  he  call  him  his  client  for?” 
interrupted  Rollo. 


112 


THE  TRIAL. 


44  O,  the  lawyers  always  call  the  men  they 
are  speaking  for  in  court,  their  clients.” 

44  Do  they?”  said  Rollo.  44  Well,  go  on.” 

44 4  They  have,  not  proved  it,’  said  Mr. 
Span*.  4  Captain  James  may  have  been  mis¬ 
taken  in  the  man.  that  he  saw  before  Mr. 
Stone’s  house ;  and  besides,  if  my  client 
was  actually  there,  it  does  not  prove,  by  any 
means,  that  he  broke  into  the  house  and 
stole  the  spoons.  He  had  as  good  a  right  to 
be  in  the  street  at  that  hour,  as  Captain 
James  himself. 

44  4  Then,  as  to  the  spoons  which  he  tried 
to  sell  Mr.  Case,  it  is  not  certain  at  all  that 
they  were  the  same  spoons  that  Mr.  Stone 
lost.  He  admits  that  there  were  no  marks 
upon  them,  and  he  also  admits  that  it  was 
very  common  for  people  to  bring  him  old 
spoons  to  sell.  There  were  a  thousand  ways 
by  which  my  client  might  have  come  by  old 
spoons  honestly.  Even  the  thief  who  stole 
these,  might  have  sold  them  to  him,  and  he 
not  know  they  were  stolen.’  ” 

44  Yes;  but  he  said  he  got  them  from  his 
own  house,  and  he  had  not  any  house,” 
interrupted  Rollo. 

44  Yes;  but  I  am  only  telling  yon  what 


THE  TRIAL. 


113 


Mr.  Span’s  speech  was,”  resumed  Jonas. 
“But, -by  the  way,  he  said  something  about 
that.  ‘  It  is  true,’  he  went  on,  ‘  that  my 
client  unfortunately  did  not  make  correct 
statements  at  Mr.  Case’s,  and  I  am  sorry  for 
it.  It  would  have  been  better  for  him  to 
have  told  the  truth.  But  if  we  admit  that 
he  prevaricated  there  —  ” 

“  He  did  not  prevaricate interrupted 
Rollo,  again  ;  “  he  told  a  downright  lie.” 

“  1  Admitting  that  he  prevaricated,’  ”  con¬ 
tinued  Jonas,  without  regarding  what  Rollo 
said,  “ ‘  that  does  not  prove  that  he  stole  the 
spoons.  He  may  have  been  confused  or 
frightened  at  being  charged  with  theft,  and 
so  been  betrayed  into  falsehood  :  and  al¬ 
though  falsehood  is  very  wrong,  you  must 
remember,  gentlemen,  that  he  is  not  on  his 
trial  now  for  telling  a  lie,  but  for  stealing 
some  spoons,  and  you  must  not  declare  him 
guilty  unless  it  is  clearly  proved  that  he  did 
actually  commit  that  very  act.’  ” 

“And  what  did  the  jury  decide?”  asked 
Rollo. 

“  O,  you  will  hear  presently.  The  charge 
comes  before  that.” 

“  The  charge?  ”  repeated  Rollo. 

10*  ' 


114 


THE  TRIAL. 


“  Yes  ;  after  the  two  lawyers  get  through 
all  they  have  to  say,  the  judge  makes  a 
speech  to  the  jury,  explaining  the  case  more 
fully,  and  if  there  is  any  dispute  about  the 
law,  he  decides  it.” 

u  Well,  what  did  the  judge  say  now?” 

“  He  began,”  said  Jonas,  aby  saying  — 

“  ‘  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,5  — - 

“  Then  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  stood 
up,  and  looked  at  him,  listening  to  hear  what 
he  had  to  say. 

“ ‘ Gentlemen  of  the  jury/  said  he,  c  you 
have  heard  the  evidence  in  this  case,  and 
the  arguments  of  the  counsel,  both  against 
the  prisoner,  and  in  his  favor.  Before  you 
decide  this  question,  it  becomes  my  duty  to 
say  a  few  words  to  you  about  the  principles 
which  are  to  govern  you  in  making  your 
decision. 

u  1  The  evidence  against  the  prisoner  is 
only  circumstantial,  it  is  true,  but  it  may  be 
enough  to  condemn  him,  notwithstanding,  if 
it  is  such  as  fully  to  satisfy  your  minds  that 
he  committed  this  theft.  If,  on  full  consid¬ 
eration  of  the  subject,  you  think  there  is  a 
reasonable  doubt  whether  he  stole  this  prop¬ 
erty,  you  must  decide  he  is  not  guilty;  for 


THE  TRIAL. 


115 


a  man  is  not  to  be  condemned  simply  be¬ 
cause  it  is  probable  that  he  may  have  com¬ 
mitted  a  crime.  Unless,  therefore,  you  are 
well  satisfied  that  he  was  the  man  who  stole 
this  property,  you  must  acquit  him.  If  you 
are,  you  must  convict  him,  even  though  the 
evidence  be  merely  circumstantial.’ 

“  When  the  judge  had  finished  his  charge, 
the  sheriff  came  with  his  long  pole,  and  led 
the  jury  out.  He  walked  along,  and  they 
came  after  him  one  by  one,  and  went  out  by 
a  side  door,  and  all  disappeared.  They  went 
into  a  small  room  to  deliberate  by  therm 
selves.  When  they  were  gone,  the  people 
moved  about  a  good  deal ;  some  went  out, 
and  some  of  the  lawyers  seemed  to  be  talk¬ 
ing  to  the  judge  ;  but  I  could  not  hear  very 
well  what  they  said. 

“  Besides,  it  was  now  getting  near  night, 
and  I  thought  it  was  time  for  me  to  go  home. 
I  waited  a  few  minutes  longer,  and  then  I 
concluded  that  I  would  go  out  too.  So  I 
got  up,  and  was  walking  along,  and  had  just 
reached  the  door,  when  I  saw  the  sheriff 
coming  in  again  with  his  pole,  and  the  jury 
after  him.  So  I  stepped  back  to  my  place 
to  listen. 


116 


THE  TRIAL. 


“  The  jury  took  their  places  again,  and  all 
the  court  became  very  still.  Then  the  judge 
rose  and  looked  towards  them,  and  said, 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  are  you  agreed 
upon  your  verdict  ? 5 

u  1  Agreed,’  said  one  man  at  the  head  of 
the  jury. 

“  1  Guilty,  or  not  guilty?  ’  said  the  judge. 

ut  Guilty,’  said  the  juryman. 

“  Then  the  clerk  wrote  the  verdict  down 
in  his  book,  and  the  sheriff  led  off  the  pris¬ 
oner  to  jail ;  the  jurymen  then  went  away, 
and  pretty  soon  after  I  went  away  too.” 

“  And  what  was  his  punishment?  ”  asked 
Rollo. 

“  I  don’t  know,”  said  Jonas.  “  That  was 
for  the  judge  to  decide,  and  I  believe  he 
commonly  takes  some  time  to  consider  of  it. 
At  any  rate,  that  was  all  I  heard  about  it, 
for  I  went  home  to  supper,  and  the  next 
morning  I  found  my  horse  was  well,  and  so 
I  rode  home.” 


117 


TWO  WAYS  TOGO  TO  SEA; 

JACK’S  WAY. 

il  Jonas,  I  wish  you  would  tell  us  some 
more  sea  stories.  I  like  the  story  of  Jock 
better  than  any  you  have  told  us.  Besides, 
I  want  to  learn  about  the  sea.  I  should  like 
to  go  to  sea  myself.” 

Who  do  you  think  said  this,  Lucy  or 
Rollo  ?  It  was  Rollo  ;  and  Jonas  answered 
that  he  should  like  to  go  to  sea  himself  very 
well,  if  he  could  go  in  the  right  way. 

“  Why,  is  there  more  than  one  way?” 
said  Rollo. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas,  with  a  smile;  “  there 
is  John’s  way  and  Jack’s  way.” 

“  Why,  what  do  you  mean  ?  ”  asked  Rollo, 
eagerly. 

“  Why,  John  went  to  sea  one  way,  and 
Jack  went  another  ;  and  I  should  like  to  go 
very  well  if  I  could  go  in  John’s  way.” 

u  Who  were  John  and  Jack  ?  ” 

“  Two  boys.” 

Well,  tell  us  about  them,  Jonas.” 


118 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  I 


“  Why,  it  is  rather  a  long  story,”  said 
Jonas  ;  “  and,  besides,  it  is  getting  to  be  near 
night,”  he  said,  looking  up  at  the  sun,  which 
was  going  down  towards  the  summits  of  the 
mountains. 

It  was  a  wild,  mountainous  road  that  they 
were  now  travelling.  Rugged  rocks  and 
black  forests  were  on  each  side,  and  a  large 
stream  tumbled  along  over  the  rocks  by  the 
side  of  the  road.  Just  as  Jonas  had  spoken 
those  words,  he  saw  that  Mr.  Holiday  was 
stopping  at  a  little  distance  before  them,  to 
talk  with  a  man  who  was  standing  before 
an  old  log-house  by  the  side  of  the  road. 
He  got  through  his  talk  just  as  Jonas  came 
up  in  the  wagon  ;  and  the  man  went  into 
the  house.  Jonas  reined  in  his  horse,  as 
soon  as  his  wagon  was  opposite  the  carryall, 
and  the  following  dialogue  took  place  :  — 

“  I  find,  Jonas,”  said  Rollo’s  father,  “  that 
it  is  five  miles  farther  to  the  next  public 
house  ;  and  I  expect  it  will  be  dark  before 
we  get  there,  we  have  to  travel  so  slowly.” 

“  The  children  had  better  get  in  with 
us,”  said  Mrs.  Holiday. 

But  Rollo  told  her  that  Jonas  was  just 
going  to  tell  them  a  beautiful  story  ;  and  he 


119 


jack’s  way. 

asked  his  mother  to  let  them  ride  with  him. 
at  least  until  it  was  dark.  She  consented, 
and  the  carryall  moved  on. 

“  Come,  Jonas,”  said  Hollo,  “  now  begin.” 

“  Did  you  ever  hear  of  Cape  Cod  ?  ”  said 
Jonas. 

“Yes,”  said  Lucy;  “I  have  seen  it  on 
the  map.” 

“Cape  Cod  on  the  map  is  very  different 
from  Cape  Cod  in  reality.” 

“  Plow  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Why,  Cape  Cod  in  reality  is  a  great  tract 
of  country,  with  fields,  and  villages,  and 
towns,  and  forests  all  over  the  land,  and 
bays,  and  harbors,  and  sandy  beaches  along 
the  shore  ;  but  Cape  Cod  on  the  map  is  only 
a  mark  upon  a  piece  of  paper,  shaped  like  a 
man’s  arm.” 

“  And  painted  red,”  said  Rollo. 

“  No,  yellow,”  said  Lucy. 

“  It  is  red  on  my  map,”  said  Rollo,  de¬ 
cidedly. 

“  Never  mind  that,”  said  Jonas.  “  At  the 
head  of  one  of  the  little  bays  on  Cape  Cod,  in 
a  small  village,  there  lived  two  boys,  named 
John  and  Jack.  They  lived  in  small  houses, 


120 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  I 


pretty  near  one  another,  and  both  went  to 
the  same  school.  John  was  diligent  and 
faithful,  but  Jack  was  rather  idle.  Jack  did 
not  like  school  very  well.  In  fact,  idle  boys 
never  do. 

“  There  were  some  fishing-boats  belong¬ 
ing  to  that  village,  and  these  boys,  as  well 
as  all  the  others,  used  often  to  go  out  upon 
the  water.  Some  sea-captains  lived  in  the 
place.  They  commanded  vessels  which 
sailed  from  New  York  to  Boston,  and  some¬ 
times,  when  they  were  going  to  Boston,  and 
the  wind  was  ahead,  so  that  they  could  not 
get  round  the  cape  very  well,  they  used  to 
put  in  here,  anchor  their  vessels,  and  wait 
until  the  wind  came  fair  again. 

u  The  boys  of  the  village  used  sometimes 
to  go  on  board  these  vessels  in  the  little 
harbor,  and  sometimes  they  would  sit  on 
the  high  land  which  overlooked  the  water, 
and  see  them  sail  in  and  out. 

“  The  school-house  was  built  upon  rather 
high  ground,  a  little  out  of  the  village,  and 
the  boys  could  see  the  water  from  a  field 
close  by  it,  where  they  used  to  play  ball. 
One  day  at  recess,  Jack  called  out  to  the 
other  boys  who  were  playing, 


121 


jack’s  way. 

“  ‘  Hallo,  boys !  there  is  a  brig  coming  in.5 

“  The  boys  stopped  their  play,  and  looked : 
there  was  a  brig  coming  in,  under  full  sail, 
around  a  point  of  land  which  formed  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor. 

“  ‘  It  is  the  Almira,’  said  Jack,  standing 
up  upon  a  stone,  so  as  to  see  better.  He 
was  rather  a  little  fellow,  short  for  his  age  ; 
and  he  wore  wide  trousers,  and  no  jacket, 
and  a  broad  straw  hat,  so  that  he  looked  like 
a  little  sailor. 

“  ‘  It  is  the  Almira,’  said  he,  ‘  Capt. 
Barnes’s  brig.  I  mean  to  go  aboard  of  her 
this  afternoon.’ 

“  ‘  Will  they  let  you  go  aboard  ?  ’  said 
John. 

“  ‘  Yes,’  Jack  replied.  ‘  Ben  Halyard  sails 
in  her,  and  he’ll  let  me  go  aboard.  He 
always  does.’ 

“  ‘  Let  me  go  with  you,’  said  John. 

“‘Well,’  said  Jack. 

“  John  thought  his  father  would  let  him 
go,  for  there  was  no  school  that  afternoon ; 
and  so,  after  he  went  into  school,  he  studied 
very  diligently,  until  school  was  dismissed. 
You  see  he  had  found  out  that,  some  how 
or  other,  he  always  had  a  better  time  in  his 
11 


122 


TWO  WAVS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  1 


play,  when  he  had  just  been  particularly 
diligent  in  his  studies  ;  and  so,  whenever  he 
was  going  off  on  any  expedition  in  the  af¬ 
ternoon,  he  always  prepared  himself  to  have 
a  good  time  by  studying  very  hard  in  the 
forenoon. 

“  About  an  hour  after  dinner,  they  went 
down  to  the  wharf,  and  borrowed  a  little  boat. 
Each  took  an  oar,  and  they  rowed  off  to  the 
brig.  As  they  passed  along,  John  saw  the 
word  ‘  Almira’  painted  upon  her  stern. 

“  The  boys  went  aboard,  and  had  a  fine 
time  looking  over  the  brig  and  talking  with 
the  sailors.  Ben  Halyard  was  splicing  a 
rope,  and  they  sat  down  and  saw  him  do  it. 
They  both  thought  it  was  very  curious. 
Then  they  went  up  to  the  mast  head,  where 
they  had  a  fine  look-out  from  the  ‘top.5 
They  could  see  away  out  to  sea,  where 
vessels  were  sailing  to  and  fro. 

“  ‘  What  a  pleasant  place  this  is  !  ’  said 
Jack. 

“  ‘  Very  pleasant  now,’  said  John  ;  ‘  but  I 
think  it  would  not  be  very  pleasant  working 
here,  an  hour,  taking  in  sail,  in  a  north¬ 
east  snow  storm.’ 

“ 1 1  should  like  to  go  to  sea,’  said  Jack. 


jack’s  way. 


123 


11  1  So  should  I,  if  I  could  go  in  the  right 
way,’  said  John. 

“  ‘  No  lessons  to  learn,  and  no  errands  to 
do,  —  nothing  but  sailing  about  all  the 
time,’  continued  Jack. 

“  ‘  I  should  like  to  see  foreign  countries,’ 
said  John. 

“  ‘  Yes,’  said  Jack.  1  London,  and  Liver¬ 
pool,  and  Calcutta.  There  are  elephants  in 
Calcutta.’ 

“  ‘  Are  there  ?  ’  said  John.  ‘ 1  should  like 
to  see  an  elephant.’ 

“  £  So  should  I ;  —  and  a  whale  !  Perhaps 
we  should  see  a  whale.  I  wish  I  could  go 
to  sea.’ 

“  ‘I  mean  to  go,  some  time  or  other,’  said 
John. 

“  1  So  do  I,’  said  Jack:  1  and  I  wish  I 
could  go  now.  Boys  go  very  often  as 
young  as  I  am.’ 

“Jack  went  home  that  night  determined 
to  ask  his  father  to  let  him  go  to  sea.  His 
father  laughed,  and  did  not  make  much 
reply;  but  his  mother  said,  very  seriously, 
that  she  could  not  hear  a  word  of  it,  and  he 
must  not  ask  again. 

“  The  next  day,  Jack  wanted  John  to  ask 


124 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  ! 


his  father.  1  Perhaps  he  will  let  you  go,’ 
said  he,  £  and  then  my  father  will  be  more 
likely  to  let  me.’ 

££  £  No,’  said  John,  £  I  don’t  want  to  go.’ 

“  £  But  you  said  you  meant  to  go  to  sea.’ 

££  £  So  I  do,  but  not  in  this  way.’ 

“  1  How  are  you  going  ?  ’ 

££  £  O,  I  mean  to  go,  one  of  these  days,  in 
my  own  way ;  you’ll  see  ;  ’  and  away  he 
went  into  school  with  his  slate  under  his 
arm. 

££  A  few  days  after  this,  Jack  brought  up 
the  subject  again,  with  his  father,  but  with 
no  better  success.  He  wanted  to  go  in  the 
Almira,  but  he  could  not  get  his  father’s 
consent ;  and  at  length  she  sailed  without 
him.  In  the  mean  time,  he  neglected  his 
studies  more  and  more,  and  of  course  he 
disliked  school  more  and  more,  and  he  kept 
constantly  teasing  his  father  and  mother  to 
let  him  go  to  sea.  They  were,  however, 
firm  and  decided  against  it. 

££  He  also  tried  again  and  again  to  get 
John  to  feel  some  interest  in  going.  He 
told  him  how  pleasant  it  would  be  to  go  up 
the  Mediterranean,  and  see  all  those  places 
that  they  had  studied  about  so  often  in  their 


125 


jack’s  way. 

Geographies.  John  admitted  that  it  would 
be  very  pleasant,  and  he  meant  to  go  some 
day,  but  not  then. 

“  1  Well,’  said  Jack,  1  I  am  determined  to 
go  alone,  if  you  won’t  go  with  me  ;  and  it 
will  be  pretty  soon  too.’ 

“  From  this  time,  Jack  said  nothing  about 
going,  either  to  John  or  to  his  father  and 
mother ;  and  they  all  thought  he  had  given 
up  the  plan.  But  he  was  very  far  from 
having  given  it  up.  He  had  determined  to 
run  away.  He  knew  very  well  that  he 
could  not  get  any  captain  to  take  him  at  that 
port  without  his  father’s  consent  ;  but  he 
thought  that,  if  he  could  get  to  New  Bed¬ 
ford,  which  was  a  very  large  seaport  about 
fifty  miles  off,  along  the  coast,  he  could 
easily  manage  to  get  to  sea. 

“  But  how  to  get  to  New  Bedford  was  the 
difficulty.  It  was  full  fifty  miles  to  New 
Bedford,  and  he  knew  that  he  could  not 
walk  there  in  less  than  three  days.  To  be 
on  the  road  three  days  would  cost  him  as 
much  as  a  dollar  ;  and  then  he  knew  that  he 
must  have  as  much  as  a  dollar  there,  to  pay 
for  his  food  and  lodging,  in  case  there  was 
no  ship  going  to  sail  immediately.  So  he 
11* 


126 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  .* 


determined  to  set  to  work  and  get  the  two 
dollars  as  soon  as  he  could,  in  some  way  or 
other. 

“  Though  you  may  suppose  that  Jack  was 
a  very  had  boy,  by  his  thus  forming  a  plan 
to  run  away  from  his  father  and  mother,  yet 
he  was  not  so  very  bad  a  boy  after  all  ;  and 
he  would  not  steal,  or  do  any  thing  to  get 
his  money  dishonestly.  In  fact,  it  was 
partly  his  father  and  mother’s  fault  that  he 
determined  to  run  away.” 

“  His  father  and  mother’s  !  ”  said  Rollo, 
with  great  surprise. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “because  they  did  not 
bring  him  up  right.  They  did  not  make 
him  study  his  lessons,  and  obey  their  com¬ 
mands,  faithfully  enough.  In  fact,  they  let 
him  have  his  own  way  pretty  much,  and  so 
he  did  not  care  but  little  for  them. 

“  The  way  he  contrived  to  get  his  money 
was  by  selling  old  iron.” 

“  Old  iron  !  ”  said  Rollo. 

“Yes  ;  the  blacksmiths  there  used  to  buy 
the  old  iron  which  the  boys  picked  up  about 
the  streets  and  wharves  ;  and  so  Jack  went 
to  work  collecting  all  the  old  iron  he  could 
find  or  beg,  and  the  blacksmiths  would  buy 


jack's  way. 


127 


it,  giving  him  a  little  money  for  every 
piece  he  brought.” 

“  How  much  ?  ”  said  Hollo. 

“  O,  sometimes  only  a  cent,  and  some¬ 
times  two  or  three  cents.  Once  he  got  a 
ten-cent  piece  for  a  bar  which  came  out  of 
an  old  chimney.  The  men  gave  it  to  him, 
because  he  helped  them  about  their  work. 
He  got  the  boys  at  school,  too,  to  bring  him 
all  the  old  iron  they  could  find  about  their 
houses,  and  he  paid  them  by  making  whis¬ 
tles  and  little  boats.  At  length  he  got  two 
dollars. 

u  Then  he  considered  every  thing  ready, 
and  determined  to  set  off,  without  any  far¬ 
ther  delay.  So,  one  moonlight  night,  after 
his  father  and  mother  had  gone  to  bed,  and 
he  thought  they  had  had  time  to  go  to  sleep, 
he  got  up  softly,  and  took  his  best  clothes 
out  of  his  drawer,  and  put  them  on.  He  put 
his  money,  which  was  all  in  small  change, 
into  his  pocket.  He  crept  out  of  his  cham¬ 
ber  window  down  upon  the  roof  over  the 
kitchen,  and  walked  along  that,  till  he  came 
to  the  end  of  it ;  then  he  climbed  down  to  a 
shed,  and  from  the  lower  edge  of  the  shed  to 
a  high  fence,  and  thence  safe  to  the  ground. 


128 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


“  Behind  a  log  of  wood,  in  the  yard,  he 
found  a  small  parcel,  which  he  had  put 
there  the  day  before,  containing  a  large 
piece  of  bread  and  some  cheese.  He  took 
this  and  stole  away. 

“  The  streets  of  the  town  were  silent  and 
solitary ;  and  the  moonlight  made  them  look 
almost  gloomy.  Still  he  pressed  on,  anxious 
to  get  away  from  the  town  as  far  as  he  could 
before  they  should  miss  him  in  the  morning. 
He  passed  by  the  school-house,  rejoicing  to 
think  that  he  should  have  no  more  studying 
to  do  there. 

“  In  the  morning,  they  observed  that  he 
did  not  come  to  breakfast ;  and  they  thought 
he  had  got  up  early,  and  gone  off  a-fishing, 
or  on  some  such  expedition,  and  they  did 
not  think  much  of  it.  By  and  by,  however, 
his  mother  went  up  to  make  his  bed,  and 
she  found  his  common  clothes  were  there  in 
the  room ;  and  looking  into  the  drawer,  she 
found  his  best  suit  was  gone.  Still  she 
thought  he  must  have  only  gone  away  on 
some  pleasure  party,  with  the  boys,  and  that 
he  would  be  home  by  noon.  But  he  did 
not  come  ;  and  then,  beginning  to  be  uneasy 
about  him,  they  sent  around  to  the  neigh- 


JACK’S  WAY;  131 

bors’  boys  to  inquire ;  but  no  one  could  tell 
any  thing  of  him. 

“  His  father  then  began  to  think  he  had 
run  away ;  and  he  took  a  horse  and  wagon 
to  go  after  him.  He  thought  it  most  likely 
that  he  had  gone  across  the  cape ;  and  so  he 
took  that  road.  He  travelled  in  that  direc¬ 
tion  nearly  all  the  afternoon,  inquiring  of 
every  one  he  saw,  but  nobody  had  seen  any 
such  boy ;  and  so  he  came  home,  and  con¬ 
cluded  he  must  have  gone  the  other  road, 
towards  New  Bedford,  and  the  next  morning 
he  set  out  in  that  direction. 

“  In  the  mean  time,  Jack  had  travelled  all 
the  first  night,  and  pretty  much  all  the  next 
day ;  and  the  second  night  he  slept  in  a  tav¬ 
ern,  supposing  that  now  the  danger  was 
over.  But  after  all,  he  was  not  yet  quite 
twenty  miles  from  home.  He  was  so  tired 
with  his  walk,  that  he  did  not  get  up  till 
quite  late  the  next  morning  ;  and  his  father 
rode  up  to  the  door  of  the  tavern  just  as  he 
Avas  going  out  to  begin  his  second  day’s 
journey.  Of  course  he  took  him  into  his 
wagon,  and  carried  him  home  again.” 

“  Did  he  whip  him  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

11  No,”  replied  Jonas.  “  He  had  been  so 


132 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


frightened  about  losing  him,  and  was  so 
glad  to  get  him  safe  back  again,  that  he  did 
not  want  to  whip  him.  And  then,  besides, 
he  thought  that  if  he  should  punish  him 
severely,  it  would  only  make  him  more  in¬ 
clined  to  run  away  again. 

“  In  fact,  his  father  began  to  think  that 
perhaps  he  had  better  let  him  go  to  sea, 
after  all.  Jack’s  mother  was  still  very  un¬ 
willing  ;  but  he  told  her  that  perhaps  it  would 
be  safest  to  let  him  go,  since  he  was  so  set 
upon  it.  (  We  had  better,’  said  he,  ‘look 
him  out  a  vessel,  with  a  good  captain,  and 
get  him  a  good  birth,  than  to  have  him  run 
away  to  sea,  and  so  get  mined.’ 

“  At  length,  his  mother  reluctantly  gave 
her  consent ;  and  so  they  got  Jack  a  birth  on 
board  the  very  Almira  that  he  had  longed  to 
go  in.  Ben  Halyard  came  with  a  wheel¬ 
barrow  to  wheel  his  trunk  to  the  wharf, 
and  his  friend  John  went  down  with  him  to 
see  him  safe  aboard.  On  the  way  he  said, 

“ 1  There,  John,  I  told  you  I  meant  to  go 
to  sea ;  and  here  I  am  going  before  you,  and 
yet  you  are  a  year  older  than  I  am  !  ’  For 
at  this  time  Jack  was  twelve,  and  John  was 


133 


jack’s  way. 

thirteen.  1  I  don’t  believe  you  will  ever  see 
foreign  countries  as  long  as  you  live.’ 

“  ‘  Yes,  I  shall,’  said  John  ;  ‘  that  is,  I  mean 
to.’ 

“  ‘  Well,  when?  ’  said  Jack. 

“ 1 1  am  going  to  set  out  to-morrow.’ 

“  ‘  To-morrow  !  ’  said  Jack,  stopping  in 
the  middle  of  the  road  in  astonishment. 

ucYes,’  said  John,  walking  along  quietly. 

“  ‘  Where  are  you  going  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  I  am  going  into  the  country.  Father 
has  hound  me  out  apprentice  at  a  great 
blacksmith’s.’ 

u  ‘  A  blacksmith’s  !  ’  exclaimed  Jack,  burst¬ 
ing  into  a  fit  of  laughter  ;  1  that  is  a  good  one. 
And  so  you  are  going  to  sea  by  way  of  a 
blacksmith’s  shop,  back  in  the  country. 
That  is  a  pretty  road  to  go  in  to  see  foreign 
lands.’ 

“  c  It  is  the  best  road,’  said  John. 

u  They  arrived  at  the  wharf,  and  John 
and  Jack  stepped  on  board  of  a  boat,  with 
Jack’s  father  and  Ben  Halyard,  who  pulled 
them  off  to  the  brig.  The  captain  ordered 
the  sailors  to  man  the  capstan  and  heave  in 
the  cable.” 


12 


134 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


u  What  does  that  mean  ?  ”  said  Lucy. 

“  O,  the  capstan  is  a  kind  of  machine, 
with  long  handles  reaching  off  on  every 
side  ;  and  the  sailors  take  hold  of  these  han¬ 
dles,  and  heave  round,  and  round,  and 
round,  and  so  heave  up  the  anchor.” 

“  How  does  that  heave  up  the  anchor  ?  ” 

11  Why,  the  cable,  that  is  fastened  to  the 
anchor,  passes  round  the  capstan ;  and  so, 
when  they  heave  it  round,  it  winds  the 
cable  up,  and  draws  it  in. 

“  So  Jack  got  hold  of  the  capstan,  and 
hove  away  with  the  other  sailors.  He  was 
quite  pleased  with  this.  He  told  John  that 
he  had  heard  people  say  it  was  hard  work  to 
heave  up  the  anchor,  but  it  was  no  such 
thing  ;  it  was  very  easy  work,  he  said. 

“  The  sails  were  soon  spread  ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  brig  began  to  make  some  way  through 
the  water,  Jack’s  father  and  John  bade  the 
little  sailor  good  by,  and  got  down  the. 
brig’s  side,  into  their  boat ;  and  John  sculled 
the  boat  ashore. 

u  The  brig  sailed  majestically  out  of  the 
bay,  and  Jack  thought  all  his  troubles  were 
over,  and  that  life  with  him  was  now  just 
about  to  begin.  And  for  a  few  days  things 


jack’s  way.  135 

went  on  very  pleasantly.  He  knew  enough 
about  a  ship  to  feel  somewhat  at  home,  and 
he  was  not  seasick ;  though  his  feelings 
revolted  a  little  at  the  dirty  and  miserable 
hole  he  had  to  sleep  in,  in  the  forecastle, 
and  the  intolerable  smell  of  the  place.  In  a 
few  days,  too,  the  novelty  of  the  thing  wore 
off.  The  weather  was  fair,  and  the  wind 
favorable,  and  they  went  on  very  smoothly 
through  the  water ;  and  Jack  began  to  get 
tired  of  the  sameness.  He  had  to  run  about 
at  every  body’s -bidding  ;  and  if  he  did  well, 
he  had  neither  thanks  nor  pay,  and  often  got 
cuffed  and  scolded  if  he  did  not  do  well. 
After  he  had  been  out  a  week,  and  reflected 
that  he  had  got  two  or  three  weeks  more  to 
pass  in  the  same  dull  way  before  he  should 
see  land,  he  was  almost  sorry  he  had  come. 
He  wished  a  thousand  times  that  John  had 
come  with  him,  and  then  he  should  have 
had  company. 

“  The  brig  went  south,  to  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  to  take  in  a  cargo  of  cotton.  For 
about  an  hour,  while  they  were  sailing  into 
the  harbor,  and  coming  up  to  the  town,  Jack 
enjoyed  himself  well ;  and  he  began  to  think 
that  he  was  going  to  be  repaid  for  all  his 


136 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  ! 


hard  work  and  dull  times  on  the  passage. 
But  he  found,  after  all,  when  he  got  in,  to 
the  wharf,  that  he  could  not  go  ashore 
much  ;  for  the  crew  were  all  to  be  hard  at 
work  on  board  the  ship,  all  the  time  of  their 
stay.  The  captain  gave  him  leave  to  go 
ashore  once  or  twice ;  but  all  the  part  of  the 
city  where  sailors  went  was  mean,  dirty, 
and  poor.  The  captain  took  in  his  cargo, 
and  set  sail  again  as  soon  as  possible  ;  so  that 
Jack  had  soon  another  tedious  voyage  before 
him. 

“  The  days  and  weeks  passed  away  very 
heavily.  Jack  thought  he  had  rather  be  at 
school,  for  there  was  a  recess  there,  and  then 
they  had  a  good  play  ;  and  they  did  go  home 
at  last  every  day,  when  school  was  done, 
and  get  a  good  warm  supper,  and  a  comfort¬ 
able  bed  at  night ;  but  at  sea  it  was  dull 
work,  all  day  long,  among  ropes,  junk,  tar, 
and  bilge-water,  —  nothing  to  eat  but  old 
salt  beef  and  dry  ship-bread, — and  a  hole 
to  sleep  in  at  night,  that  a  dog  would  have 
run  away  from.  Jack  fairly  wished  he  was 
at  home. 

“  However,  he  was  naturally  a  boy  of  good 
spirits,  and  he  was  not  easily  depressed.  ‘  I 


137 


jack’s  way. 

shall  see  foreign  countries  at  any  rate,’  said 
he,  ‘and  that  will  pay  me  for  my  pains.’ 
‘I  shall  see  Liverpool,’  thought  he,  ‘and  the 
Tower  of  London,  and  Gibraltar,  and  the 
Cataract  of  Niagara.’  ” 

Here  Lucy  laughed  outright,  and  said  that 
the  Cataract  of  Niagara  was  not  in  England. 

“No,”  said  Jonas;  “but  Jack,  you  know, 
was  not  a  very  good  scholar,  and  he  did  not 
know  very  well  where  the  wonderful  places 
were.  He  thought  they  were  all  beyond 
seas. 

“  When  they  got  pretty  near  Liverpool, 
he  asked  Ben  Halyard  if  he  would  go  to 
London  with  him,  when  they  landed. 

“  ‘  London,  man  !  ’  said  Ben  ;  ‘  we  are  not 
going  to  London.’ 

“  ‘  Why,  we  can  go  from  Liverpool ;  for 
London  is  in  England,  I  know.’ 

“  ‘  Yes,  it  is  in  England,  but  it  is  hun¬ 
dreds  of  miles  from  Liverpool.’ 

“  ‘  Is  it  ?  ’  said  Jack  ;  ‘  then  I  can’t  see 
London  this  voyage  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  No,’  said  Ben ;  ‘  it  would  cost  fifty  dol¬ 
lars,  for  aught  I  know.’ 

“  ‘  Well,  what  sort  of  a  place  is  Liver¬ 
pool.’ 

12  * 


138 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  I 


“  4  O,  it’s  a  great  place,5  said  Ben ;  ‘  but 
we  shan’t  see  much  of  it.5 

“  ‘  Why  not  ?  ’  said  Jack. 

11 1  O,  we  have  a  couple  o’  hundred  hales 
of  cotton  to  get  up  out  of  our  hold.5 

“  ‘  Well,  after  we  have  got  the  cotton 
out  ? 5 

“  1  Then  we  have  got  a  couple  o5  hundred 
boxes,  and  bales,  and  casks,  to  get  into  our 
hold  again.5 

“  1  Well,  and  then  ? 5  said  Jack. 

u  L  Why,  and  then  we  have  got  to  make 
all  sail  for  New  York.5 

“  £  Is  that  it  ?  5  said  Jack. 

(U  Yes,  that  is  it,  exactly  ;  that  is  a  sailor’s 
life,  year  in  and  year  out.5 

“  4  For’ard  there  !  ’  shouted  out  the  cap¬ 
tain,  just  at  this  instant,  from  the  quarter¬ 
deck. 

u  1  Ay,  ay,  sir  !  5  cried  Ben,  in  reply  ;  and 
he  started  up  to  listen  to,  and  execute,  the 
captain’s  commands. 

“  The  Almira  remained  some  time  in 
Liverpool,  and  then  set  sail  again  for  New 
York.  Jack  went  ashore  a  few  times  at 
Liverpool ;  but  he  saw  very  little,  except  that 
mean  part  of  the  place  which  sailors  gener- 


139 


jack’s  way. 

ally  frequented.  He  had  no  time  to  make 
excursions  to  any  distance,  and  if  he  had. 
he  could  have  seen  but  little,  for  he  was  but 
a  poor  sailor,  and  could  not  have  got  into 
the  splendid  buildings  and  great  establish¬ 
ments  of  England.  So  he  went  back  to 
America,  having  had  very  little  more  to  do 
with  England  than  having  worked  hard 
several  days  to  load  and  unload  a  ship  at  a 
Liverpool  dock.” 

Just  here  the  boys  were  entering  a  dark 
pass  in  the  mountains.  The  sun  had  gone 
down,  and  twilight  had  nearly  disappeared, 
and  Rollo’s  father  and  mother^  began  to  think 
it  was  time  for  the  children  to  come  back 
into  the  carryall.  So  they  stopped  and 
waited  for  the  wagon  to  come  up. 

“  O,  father !  ”  said  Rollo,  when  they  got 
pretty  near,  “  do  let  us  ride  here  a  little 
longer,  —  till  Jonas  has  finished  this  story.” 

“  How  much  longer  is  the  story  ?  ”  said 
Mr.  Holiday. 

“  Not  much  longer,  sir,”  said  Jonas. 

“  Very  well,  then.  When  you  get  through, 
drive  up  to  us,  and  let  us  know.” 

u  So  the  carryall  started  on,  and  Jonas 
resumed  his  story. 


140 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


“  One  day,  on  the  return  voyage,  when 
Ben  Halyard  and  Jack  were  at  work  in  the 
top,  in  a  heavy  rain  storm,  Jack’s  fingers 
numb  with  wet  and  cold,  and  the  chill  wind 
driving  the  rain  into  his  face,  he  asked  Ben 
if  this  was  a  fair  specimen  of  a  sailor’s  life,  — 
dull  times  at  sea,  and  hard  work  in  port. 

“‘Yes,  pretty  fair,’  said  Ben;  ‘it  is  a 
dog’s  life.’ 

“‘Well,’  said  Jack,  ‘one  thing  I  know; 
when  I  am  captain,  I’ll  have  things  different. 
I  shall  have  my  liberty  then,  and  can  do  as 
I’ve  a  mind  to.’ 

“  ‘  Captain  !  ’  said  Ben,  ‘  you’ll  never  be 
captain.’ 

“  ‘Yes,  I  shall,’  said  Jack. 

“  ‘  You  !  ’  said  Ben  ;  ‘you  don’t  under¬ 
stand  navigation.’ 

“  ‘  No,  but  I  can  learn.’ 

“  ‘  Not  unless  you  studied  arithmetic 
pretty  well  in  school.’ 

“  ‘  Arithmetic  !  ’  said  Jack,  ‘  I  hate  arith¬ 
metic.’ 

“  ‘  Then  you’ll  hate  navigation,  I  can  tell 
you.  You  never  will  be  captain.  It  takes 
a  good  scholar  to  make  a  captain.  You’ll 


141 


jack’s  way. 

have  to  live  in  the  forecastle,  my  boy,  and 
heave  away  at  the  capstan  for  your  wages.’ 

“  This  was  discouraging  enough.  Jack 
wished  he  had  studied  his  arithmetic  better 
at  school ;  but  it  was  too  late  to  help  it 
now.  He  went  down  to  the  deck,  wet 
and  cold,  but  there  were  two  hours  more  of 
his  watch  before  he  could  go  below  ;  and  all 
that  time  he  had  to  walk  back  and  forth  on 
the  deck,  in  the  rain,  to  keep  any  warmth 
in  him  at  all. 

“  ‘  Well,’  said  he  to  himself,  ‘my  pros¬ 
pect  is  rather  gloomy.  I  don’t  know  what 
John  meant  by  his  way  of  going  to  sea,  but 
it  must  be  bad  indeed,  if  it  is  any  worse 
than  mine.’  ” 

Here  Jonas  touched  the  horse  with  the 
whip,  and  said,  “Now  we  will  drive  on,  and 
speak  to  your  father.” 

“  Why,  is  that  ail?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“Yes,  that  is  all  about  Jack.  I  will  tell 
you  how  John  went  to  sea,  through  the 
blacksmith’s  shop,  to  morrow.” 


142 


TWO  WAYS  TOGO  TO  SEA: 

JOHN’S  WAY. 

Jonas  did  not  begin  to  tell  the  children 
about  John’s  way  of  going  to  sea  until  the 
next  morning.  Rollo  and  Lucy  asked  leave 
to  get  into  the  wagon  early  in  the  morning, 
and  Mr.  Holiday  consented  ;  and  as  they 
set  out  very  early  on  their  journey,  Jonas 
resumed  his  narrative,  just  as  the  sun  was 
gilding  the  summits  of  the  mountains 
around. 

“  John  had  his  clothes  put  up  in  a  little 
wooden  trunk,  painted  blue ;  and  then  he 
waited  at  home  for  the  stage  to  come. 
Presently  it  drove  up  to  the  door,  and  John 
got  in.  They  put  his  blue  trunk  in  be¬ 
hind.” 

“  On  behind,  you  mean,”  said  Rollo. 

“No,  in  behind;  and  John,  after  he  got 
in,  sat  down  and  began  to  talk  with  the 
driver.” 


John’s  way.  143 

u  Why,  Jonas,”  said  Rollo,  u  he  could  not 
talk  with  the  driver  if  he  was  in  the 

stage.” 

“  Why,  yes,”  said  Jonas,  u  for  this  stage 
was  not  a  great  coach,  with  four  horses  and 
a  great  rack  for  trunks  behind  —  it  was  only 
a  one-horse  wagon,  with  two  seats,  and  a 
top  over  it,  and  curtains  at  the  side.  That 
is  the  kind  of  stage  they  have  where  there 
is  not  much  travelling.  So  John  sat  down 
upon  the  front  seat  with  the  driver,  and  they 
put  his  blue  trunk  in  under  the  back  seat. 

“  He  rode  along  very  pleasantly  in  this 
way  a  long  time.  They  stopped  to  change 
horses  sometimes,  and  at  last  he  got  to  a 
pretty  large  town,  where  the  wagon  stage 
stopped,  and  John  got  into  a  larger  one,  with 
four  horses.  He  rode  along  in  this  way 
until  he  came  at  last  to  the  town  where  he 
was  to  stay.” 

u  What  was  the  name  of  the  town?  ” 
asked  Lucy. 

“  I  don’t  know,”  said  Jonas  ;  “  I  only 

know  it  was  a  large  town,  with  a  good 
many  factories  in  it.  There  was  a  large 
stream  of  water  running  through  it,  which 
carried  the  factories.  When  the  stage 


144 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  !' 


stopped  at  the  tavern,  John  inquired  where 
Mr.  Naylor’s  blacksmith’s  shop  was,  as  his 
father  had  directed  him  to  do.  He  was  told 
he  must  walk  down  through  the  village,  and 
then  turn  to  the  right,  down  the  bank  of  the 
stream,  and  he  would  see  it. 

“  So  John  walked  along  through  the  vil¬ 
lage,  admiring  the  great  factory  buildings, 
with  their  long  rows  of  windows,  and  little 
cupolas  upon  the  top.  At  length,  he  reached 
the  place  where  he  was  to  turn  off.  The 
stream,  which  here  widened  into  a  pond,  was 
upon  one  side,  and  a  wood  upon  the  other. 
Just  before  him,  on  the  margin  of  the  stream, 
was  a  large  stone  building,  which  looked 
something  like  a  blacksmith’s  shop,  though 
it  was  the  largest  and  handsomest  one  that 
John  had  ever  seen.  John  found,  on  in¬ 
quiry,  that  Mr.  Naylor  was  in  his  house, 
across  the  road.  He  looked  over  there,  and 
saw  a  pleasant,  one-storied  house  among  the 
trees,  and  he  went  over  to  it.  Mr.  Naylor  was 
glad  to  see  him,  asked  him  about  his  jour¬ 
ney,  read  the  letter  which  John  had  brought 
from  his  father,  gave  John  some  supper,  and 
showed  him  his  bed.  It  was  in  the  corner 
of  a  little  unfinished  room  over  the  kitchen, 


147 


John’s  way. 

the  rafters  and  the  roof  being  right  over 
John’s  head.  John  liked  his  bed  very 
much,  and  he  slept  soundly  till  morning. 

“  The  next  day  he  went  into  the  shop, 
and  was  very  much  interested  at  seeing  the 
forges,  and  great  anvils,  and  trip-hammers, 
going  by  water.” 

“  What  are  trip-hammers?”  asked  Rollo. 

“  O,  they  are  great  hammers  which  go 
by  water,”  said  Jonas,  “  heavier  than  a  man 
can  lift ;  and  they  strike,  heavy  and  quick,  on 
the  great  bars  of  hot  iron,  which  a  man  holds 
under  them.  They  make  a  terrible  noise.” 

“  I  should  like  to  see  a  trip-hammer,”  said 
Rollo. 

“  John  thought  they  were  very  curious,” 
said  Jonas.  u  They  sent  him  away  to  the 
village  of  an  errand,  early  in  the  morning, 
and  when  he  returned  they  had  got  in  the 
fire,  upon  one  of  the  forges,  an  enormous 
piece  of  iron,  which  John  knew  that  a  man 
could  not  lift,  and  he  wondered  how  they 
were  going  to  get  it  to  the  anvil  under  the 
trip-hammer.  Mr.  Naylor  told  him  to  wait 
there  a  minute  or  two,  and  so  he  had  a  fine 
chance  to  see.  He  observed  that  there  was 
an  iron  chain  round  the  middle  of  the  iron, 


148 


TWO  WAYS  TO  CO  TO  SEA  I 


and  the  chain  reached  lip  overhead.  He 
looked  up,  and  saw  that  it  was  fastened  to 
a  curious-looking  machine,  so  that  it  could 
be  hoisted  up  a  little,  and  then  swung  over 
to  the  anvil.  Presently,  the  men  hove  away 
upon  the  machine.  The  iron  came  slowly 
out  of  the  fire,  glowing  and  sparkling,  so 
that  you  could  hardly  look  at  it.  They 
swung  it  carefully  over  to  the  anvil,  and 
then  pulled  a  small  pole  hanging  by  the  side 
of  it,  which  set  the  trip-hammer  a-going.  It 
made  a  tremendous  noise,  and  the  sparks 
flew  in  every  direction,  while  two  men 
moved  the  iron  back  and  forth,  so  as  to 
make  the  trip-hammer  strike  it  in  the  right 
places.  John  thought  he  should  have  a 
great  deal  to  learn,  before  he  could  become 
a  first-rate  blacksmith. 

“  For  some  time,  John  had  to  run  of 

% 

errands  around  town,  and  wait  upon  the 
workmen  in  the  shop.  Presently,  they  put 
him  at  a  great  vice,  and  a  man  taught  him 
to  file.” 

“  O,  I  can  file,”  said  Rollo.  aI  have.” 

u  Yes,  you  can  file  a  little,  I  know  ;  but  it 
is  very  difficult  to  learn  to  file  square  and 
true.  John  paid  very  close  attention  to  all 


149 


John’s  way. 

that  they  said,  and  followed  the  directions 
exactly.  He  worked  slowly,  but  steadily  ; 
and  when  Mr.  Naylor  came  along  at  night, 
and  saw  how  much  he  had  done,  he  said, 

“  ‘  Well  done,  John  !  I  don’t  see  but  that 
you  will  make  a  blacksmith.’ 

“  John  spent  his  evenings  in  reading  and 
studying,  and  one  day  Mr.  Naylor  told  him 
that  he  had  some  books  in  his  library,  and 
John  might  read  them.  John  was  very 
glad.  The  books  were  about  mechanics 
and  engineering,  and  some  about  mathe¬ 
matics.  There  was  one  book  on  geom¬ 
etry,  which  he  wanted  to  study  very  much ; 
but  he  found  he  could  not  understand  it  very 
well,  alone.  He  wanted  to  study  these  things, 
for  he  knew  that  if  he  could  get  knowl¬ 
edge  from  books,  and  practical  skill  in  the 
shop,  he  might,  one  of  these  days,  make  a 
first-rate  machinist,  like  Mr.  Naylor,  and 
undertake  great  works,  instead  of  being  a 
mere  journeyman  blacksmith,  working  all  his 
life  for  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day. 

“  John  was  a  beautiful  writer.  He  used 
to  take  great  pains  with  his  writing  at  school, 
and  the  master  thought  he  was  one  of  the  best 
writers  of  his  age  he  ever  had.  So,  after  a 
13  * 


150 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


while,  Mr.  Naylor  got  him  to  copy  some 
letters,  and  finding  that  he  did  it  very  neatly 
and  well,  he  used  often  to  take  him  off  from 
his  hard  work  in  the  shop,  to  make  out  bills 
or  keep  accounts  in  his  little  counting-room. 

“  Thus  some  years  passed  away,  and  John 
was  becoming  one  of  the  most  important 
men  in  Mr.  Naylor’s  shop.” 

“And,  I  suppose,  by  this  time  he  had  for¬ 
gotten  all  about  his  plan  of  going  to  sea,” 
said  Rollo. 

“Not  at  all,”  said  Jonas.  “  His  desire  to 
see  foreign  countries  grew  stronger  and 
stronger.  He  used  to  read  a  good  deal 
about  England,  and  the  great  iron-works 
there ;  and  one  reason  he  had  for  acquiring 
so  much  knowledge  was  to  be  at  the  head 
of  his  business.  c  If  I  can  only  get  my  trade 
well  learned,  and  get  well  established  in 
business,  I  can  earn  money  enough  to  go 
where  I  please.’ 

“  This  was  a  very  good  calculation,  and 
it  turned  out  even  better  than  John  had  ex¬ 
pected,  as  you  will  see  in  the  end.  He  soon 
learned  geometry,  and  that  helped  him  along 
a  great  deal  in  his  studies.” 

“  How  did  he  learn  it?  ”  asked  Lucv. 


John’s  way. 


151 


u  Why,  one  day  he  was  up  in  the  second 

story  of  the  shop - ’  ’ 

“  Were  there  two  stories  ?  ”  asked  Rollo. 

“  Yes  ;  and  in  the  second  story  there  were 
lathes,  and  various  machines  for  finishing 
off  nice  work,  all  carried  by  water.  Well, 
John  was  there  seated  before  an  emery- 
wheel,  brightening  some  screws  that  were 
going  to  be  tempered.” 

“  What  does  that  mean?  ”  asked  Lucy. 

“  Why,  you  see  when  they  want  screws 
to  be  hard,  they  temper  them.  First,  they 
heat  them  very  hot,  and  put  them  in  cold 
water,  and  that  makes  them  very  hard  and 
brittle.  Then,  they  heat  them  again  a  little, 
not  quite  red  hot,  and  plunge  them  into  cold 
water  again,  and  that  makes  them  not  quite 
so  hard  and  brittle,  but  more  tough  ;  and 
they  have  to  brighten  them  a  little  before 
they  heat  them  the  second  time,  in  order  to 
know  how  hot  to  make  them.” 

ct  How  do  they  know  by  that  ?  ”  asked 
Rollo. 

u  Why,  if  steel  is  bright,”  said  Jonas, 
“  and  you  heat  it,  it  first  turns  straw-color, 
then  blue,  and  at  last  deep  purple,  as  it 


152 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


grows  hotter  and  hotter ;  so  they  can  tell 
by  the  color  how  hot  it  is.5’ 
u  That  is  curious,”  said  Hollo. 
u  So  John  had  a  box  of  screws  in  a  little 
stand  before  him,  and  was  brightening  them 
upon  an  emery-wheel.  Do  you  know  what 
an  emery-wheel  is  ?  ” 

“No,”  said  Rollo  and  Lucy,  together. 

“  It  is  a  small  wheel  cut  out  of  a  board, 
which  goes  round  very  fast  by  water.  It 
has  leather  all  around  the  edge,  and  emery 
on  the  leather,  and  they  touch  the  screws  on 
this,  and  the  wheel,  going  round  very  fast, 
polishes  the  part  of  the  screw  which  touches, 
and  makes  it  very  bright.  John  would  take 
up  a  handful  of  screws  in  one  hand,  and  then 
take  them,  one  by  one,  in  the  other,  and  just 
touch  them  to  the  emery-wheel,  and  brighten 
a  little  spot  upon  each  ;  and  then  drop  them 
into  another  box.  After  he  had  got  them 
all  brightened,  he  took  them  to  a  bench,  and 
began  to  temper  them.” 

“  How  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Why,  he  had  a  little  pan  of  charcoal, 
and  over  it  a  shallow  iron  basin,  half  full  of 
sand,  which  of  course  was  hot.  He  would 


JOHN'S  WAY. 


153 


put  a  few  of  his  screws  in  the  sand,  and  they 
would  gradually  heat  there.  He  watched 
them,  and  as  fast  as  they  became  blue  on  the 
little  spot  that  he  had  brightened,  he  would 
take  them  out.  and  dip  them  in  cold  water. 

“  While  he  was  at  the  emery-wheel, 
brightening  his  screws,  Mr.  Naylor  came  to 
look  at  them  ;  and  after  examining  the 
wheel,  said  he  wanted  to  have  a  wheel  to 
revolve  faster,  and  he  asked  John  if  he  could 
plan  the  machinery  to  make  one  revolve 
three  hundred  times  in  a  second. 

“  John  said  he  did  not  think  he  could. 

“  1  Why.  you  seem  to  be  something  of  a 
scholar,  John.  Have  you  ever  studied  ge¬ 
ometry  ?  ’  said  Mr.  Naylor. 

“  £  No,  sir,’  said  John  ;  ‘  but  I  want  to  study 
it  very  much.’  ” 

“ £  I  thought  it  was  likely,’  said  Mr.  Nay¬ 
lor.  ‘  Well,  there  is  to  be  an  evening  school 
for  teaching  geometry  in  the  village,  —  to 
begin  next  week,  —  and  if  you  wish,  you 
may  go.’ 

“John  liked  this  plan  very  much.  He 
was  very  diligent  and  attentive  to  his 
geometry,  and  learned  very  fast,  and  the 
knowledge  of  it,  that  he  acquired,  helped 


154 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  *. 


him  very  much  in  all  his  reading.  He 
could  understand  the  drawings  of  various 
machines,  and  descriptions  of  machines  bet¬ 
ter,  and  he  could  make  a  great  many  calcu¬ 
lations,  which  he  could  not  have  made 
before.  In  fact,  John  became  at  length  so 
learned,  that  he  had  very  little  hard  work  to 
do.  He  was  employed  all  the  time  in  plan¬ 
ning  work,  making  drawings,  and  overseeing 
other  workmen  ;  and  at  last,  when  he  grew 
up,  Mr.  Naylor  took  him  into  partnership. 

“  He  was  very  profitable  to  Mr.  Naylor, 
for  he  had  read  so  many  books,  that  when¬ 
ever  any  very  difficult  job  came,  he  could 
turn  to  some  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
such  a  piece  of  work  was  done  in  other 
countries,  and  could  make  drawings  for  the 
workmen  to  work  by.  At  length,  one  even¬ 
ing,  as  they  were  walking  home  from  the 
shop,  Mr.  Naylor  asked  him  if  he  should  be 
willing  to  go  to  England. 

“‘Certainly,’  said  Mr.  John;  ‘I  should 
like  to  go  to  England  very  much.’  ” 

“Mr.  John!”  said  Rollo ;  “what  do  you 
call  him  Mr.  John  for  ?  ” 

“  Why,  he  was  a  man  now,  and  as  he  had 
grown  up  in  the  shop  from  a  boy,  and  was 


John’s  way.  155 

always  called  John  when  a  boy,  the  men 
gradually  got  into  the  habit  of  calling  him 
‘Mr.  John.’  And  now  that  was  the  name 
he  always  went  by. 

“  Mr.  Naylor  then  said  that  he  had  an 
application  from  a  great  rail-road  company  to 
superintend  the  construction  of  a  rail-road, 
and  it  would  be  necessary  for  some  one  to 
go  out  to  England,  and  purchase  the  iron 
rails,  and  chains,  and  iron  for  spikes,  and 
also  the  locomotives,  and  to  examine  the 
foreign  manufactories,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
manufacture  cars  and  locomotives  in  their 
own  machine  shop,  when  he  should  get 
home  again. 

“  Mr.  John  said  he  should  like  to  go  very 
much  indeed ;  Mr.  Naylor  said  his  expenses 
would  be  paid  out  of  the  profits  of  the  busi¬ 
ness.  Mr.  John  had  laid  up  a  good  deal  of 
money  of  his  own,  and  he  fitted  himself  out 
with  plenty  of  good,  comfortable  clothes  and 
drawing  instruments,  and  every  thing  else 
that  he  thought  he  should  need. 

“  He  travelled  to  New  York  in  the  stage, 
and  took  passage  in  a  Liverpool  packet.  He 
went  down  to  the  packet  in  a  steamboat  on 
the  day  of  sailing,  and  when  the  steamboat 


156 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA: 


arrived  alongside  the  packet,  a  couple  of 
sailors  carried  his  handsome  black  leather 
trunks  into  his  state-room.  He  handed 
them  a  shilling  a-piece,  and  they  touched 
their  hats,  thanked  him,  and  went  away 
for’ard  to  hoist  the  sails. 

“  There  were  many  ladies  and  gentlemen 
in  the  cabin,  and  Mr.  John  had  a  very  pleas¬ 
ant  passage.  lie  studied  French  several 
hours  every  day,  because  he  thought  he 
should  wish  to  travel  in  France  before  he 
came  back,  and  it  would  be  of  great  advan¬ 
tage  to  him  to  know  that  language. 

“  There  was  one  of  the  sailors  on  board, 
that  the  captain  called  Jack.5’ 

“  Jack  ! 55  said  Rollo  ;  “  what,  was  Jack  in 
the  same  ship  ? ” 

“No,”  said  Jonas;  “  it  was  not  his  old 
friend  Jack,  though  John  thought  at  first  it 
was.  But  it  was  another  person.  In  fact, 
John  found  that  Jack  was  a  common  name 
among  sailors.  He  found  a  good  many 
Jacks  in  the  course  of  his  voyages. 

“  Mr.  John  had  a  splendid  time  in  his 
tour.  About  the  time  that  he  got  tired  of 
his  ship,  he  reached  port,  and  went  ashore, 
and  travelled,  in  elegant  stage-coaches  from 


157 


John's  way. 

city  to  city,  visiting  great  manufacturing 
establishments,  and  curious  and  wonderful 
public  works.  He  was  well  supplied  with 
money,  and  had  the  dress  and  manners  of 
a  gentleman,  so  that  he  was  well  received 
wherever  he  went. 

“  After  spending  some  time  in  London,  he 
went  to  Prance,  and  travelled  through  that 
country  to  Marseilles.  There  he  set  sail  for 
home,  in  a  large  ship  loaded  with  silks. 
There  were  a  great  many  sailors  on  board 
this  ship,  and  among  the  rest  there  was  a 
Jack  here  too.  He  was  at  work  coiling 
away  ropes,  when  Mr.  John  came  aboard. 
Mr.  John  looked  at  him  as  he  always  did 
when  he  saw  a  sailor  named  Jack  ;  but  he 
looked  no  more  like  his  old  playmate  than 
the  dozen  other  Jacks  that  he  had  seen. 

u  Mr.  John  came  down  to  the  ship,  with 
his  trunks  and  boxes  in  a  cart  behind.” 

“  With  the  locomotives  in  ’em  ?  ”  said 
Rollo. 

“  O,  no,”  said  Jonas,  “  they  were  too  big 
to  go  so.  He  had  shipped  all  his  locomo¬ 
tives  and  iron  rails  from  Liverpool.  These 
boxes  contained  only  some  valuable  books, 
and  instruments  of  various  kinds,  which  he 
14 


158 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


had  purchased  at  Paris.  The  captain  called 
out  to  Jack  to  take  the  gentleman’s  baggage 
on  board.  He  then  shook  hands  with  Mr. 
John,  and  invited  him  down  into  the  cabin. 

“  Mr.  John  had  a  beautiful  sail  along  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean.” 

“  Why,  was  he  in  the  Mediterranean?” 
asked  Hollo. 

“  Yes,”  said  Jonas  ;  “  Marseilles  is  a  port 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  ship  sailed 
along  the  coasts  of  France  and  Spain  to¬ 
wards  Gibraltar.  At  last,  the  great  Rock 
hove  in  sight.” 

“ What  great  rock?”  said  Rollo. 

“  The  Rock  of  Gibraltar.  It  is  a  great 
rock  several  miles  long,  and  O,  —  very 
high,  like  a  mountain.  Around  the  bottom 
of  it  there  are  trees,  and  houses,  and  forts, 
and  on  one  side  a  great  town.  Up  above  the 
town,  there  are  long  passages  cut  in  the 
rock,  with  great  cannon  in  them  to  fire  out 
at  the  enemy.  It  is  a  famous  place,  —  that 
Gibraltar. 

* 

“  The  captain  sailed  into  the  bay,  and 
anchored  off  abreast  of  the  Mole.” 

“  What  is  the  Mole?  ”  asked  Rollo. 

“  O,  it  is  a  long  building  reaching  out 


John’s  way.  159 

into  the  sea,  with  great  cannon  upon  it, 
and  high  walls.  It  is  a  curious  place. 

“  When  they  had  anchored,  the  captain 
informed  Mr.  John  that  he  should  not  sail 
till  next  morning,  and  if  he  wished  he  could 
go  ashore  with  him. 

“  Mr.  John  said  he  should  like  to  go  very 
much  ;  so  the  captain  called  Jack,  and  told 
him  to  go  and  get  three  good  oarsmen  to 
pull  him  and  Mr.  John  ashore. 

“‘Yes,  sir,  I  will,’  said  Jack. 

“  ‘  That  is  one  of  the  best  sailors  I  have 
got  aboard,’  said  the  captain. 

“‘He  looks  like  a  fine  fellow,’  said  Mr. 
John  ;  and  he  watched  him  as  he  lowered 
the  boat  and  brought  it  alongside.  Mr.  John 
and  the  captain  stepped  on  board,  and  the 
sailors  rowed  them  ashore.  They  landed  at 
a  curious  landing-place,  which  led  under  a 
great,  arch  in  the  wall.  The  mouths  of 
great  cannon  were  pointing  at  them  from  all 
the  walls  around.  The  captain  then  told 
Jack  to  row  back  to  the  ship,  and  to  come 
ashore  for  them  the  next  morning  at  eight 
o’clock. 

“‘Yes,  sir,’  said  Jack,  touching  his  hat  to 
the  captain ;  ‘1  will  be  here,  sir.’ 


160 


TWO  WAYS  TO  GO  TO  SEA  : 


“  As  the  captain  was  walking  away,  Mr. 
John  took  two  half-dollars  out  of  his  pocket, 
and  handed  them  to  Jack,  and  asked  him  to 
divide  them  among  the  oarsmen  who  had 
rowed  them  ashore  so  handsomely. 

“  ‘  Thank  you,  sir,’  said  Jack,  taking  them. 
But  instead  of  turning  round  at  once  to  his 
boat,  he  looked  as  if  he  wanted  to  say  some¬ 
thing,  and  Mr.  John  stopped  a  moment, 
thinking  that  perhaps  the  sailor  thought  it 
was  not  enough. 

“  In  a  moment,  Jack  said,  1 I  believe  I  have 
seen  you  before,  sir,  though  I  suppose  you  do 
not  remember  me.’ 

“‘No,’  said  Mr.  John,  looking  him  in  the 
face,  ‘  I  don’t  remember  you.’ 

“‘Don’t  you  recollect  your  old  playmate 
Jack,  who  went  to  sea  from  Cape  Cod  in  the 
Almira  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  Why,  Jack,  is  it  possible  —  is  this  you  ?  ’ 
and  Mr.  John  recognized  at  length,  in  his 
sunburnt  and  weather-beaten  face,  the  fea¬ 
tures  of  his  old  school-fellow.  He  shook 
hands  with  him  heartily,  and  talked  a  min¬ 
ute  or  two,  and  then  Mr.  John  called  back 
the  captain. 

“  ‘ Captain,’  said  he,  ‘I  have  found  that 


John’s  way. 


161 


Jack,  here,  was  an  old  playmate  of  mine  at 
school ;  I  have  not  seen  him  for  many  years. 
If  it  is  convenient  for  you  to  spare  him,  I 
wish  you  would  let  him  come  ashore  to¬ 
night,  and  look  about  Gibraltar  a  little  for 
my  sake.’ 

“  ‘  Certainly,’  said  the  captain.  £  You 
may  come,  Jack.  Go  aboard  and  get  ready, 
and  you  may  take  any  one  with  you,  you 
please,  for  company.’ 

“  Jack  thanked  the  gentlemen  very  much, 
and  bidding  Mr.  John  good  bye,  he  was  pre¬ 
paring  to  step  into  the  boat.  Before  he 
went,  however,  he  said, 

“‘I  recollect  you  said  when  I  saw  you 
last,  Mr.  John,  that  you  meant  to  see  foreign 
countries  in  your  own  way,  and  I  must  con¬ 
fess  it  is  a  much  better  way  than  mine.’  ” 

14  * 


162 


AN  EXPERIMENT. 

While  Jonas  had  been  telling  the  story 
of  the  two  ways  of  going  to  sea,  the  whole 
party  of  travellers  had  gradually  emerged 
from  the  mountain  district,  and  descended 
into  a  spacious  and  beautiful  plain,  or  rather 
valley  beyond.  They  could  see,  many  miles 
before  them,  a  large  river  flowing  through 
the  plain,  with  villages,  and  richly  cultivated 
fields,  and  green  meadows,  spotted  with  elm- 
trees,  on  either  side.  The  children  admired 
the  beauty  of  the  scene,  and  after  riding 
about  twenty  miles  in  this  open  country, 
they  arrived  at  a  large  town  upon  the  banks 
of  the  river,  which  was  the  end  of  their 
journey.  Mr.  Holiday  soon  despatched  his 
business.  Jonas  helped  him,  about  some 
writing  that  he  had  to  do,  the  whole  of  one 
day.  He  was  copying  papers  almost  all  the 
time,  and  Rollo,  and  his  mother,  and  Lucy, 
rambled  about  during  that  time,  in  the 
fields. 


AN  EXPERIMENT. 


163 


In  the  evening,  while  Mrs.  Holiday,  and 
Rollo,  and  Lucy,  were  seated  at  a  work-table 
in  a  parlor,  waiting  for  Mr.  Holiday  and 
Jonas  to  finish  their  writing,  Rollo  took  up 
a  pin  which  was  lying  upon  the  work-table, 
and  said  to  Lucy, 

“  O,  Lucy,  I  mean  to  see  if  this  pin  will 
turn  straw-color,  and  blue,  when  I  heat  it ;  ” 
—  and  so  saying  he  held  the  point  of  it  in 
the  lamp. 

“  That  won’t  turn  straw-color,  and  blue,” 
said  Lucy. 

“Why? —  it  is  bright,”  said  Rollo,  hold¬ 
ing  it  still  in  the  flame;  —  but  he  had  just 
got  the  words  spoken  when  he  dropped  the 
pin,  with  a  sudden  exclamation,  and  began 
rubbing  and  blowing  his  fingers. 

His  mother  laughed  aloud ;  Rollo  smiled, 
and  looked  rather  foolish. 

“Did  it  burn  you,  Rollo?”  said  she. 

“Not  much,”  said  he,  carefully  touching 
the  pm  upon  the  table  to  see  if  it  had  got 
cool.  It  was  cool ;  and  Rollo,  after  examin¬ 
ing  it  again,  said  there  was  not  a  bit  of  a 
straw-color  upon  it  any  where. 

“  You  can’t  temper  a  pin,”  said  Lucy;  “a 
pin  is  brass  ;  Jonas  said  steel.” 


164 


AN  EXPERIMENT. 


Rollo’s  mother  looked  up  from  her  work, 
and  seemed  interested  in  what  they  were 
saying. 

Rollo  replied  to  Lucy  that  a  pin  was  not 
brass,  for  brass  was  yellow,  and  a  pin  looked 
white  ;  and  so  they  appealed  to  Mrs.  Hol¬ 
iday. 

“  Is  a  pin  brass  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“ Isn’t  it?”  said  Lucy. 

“  I  don't  know,”  said  Mrs.  Holiday,  look¬ 
ing  attentively  at  the  pin  ;  “  I  have  always 
understood  that  pins  were  made  of  brass, 
and  yet  it  is  not  the  color  of  brass  ;  that  is 
very  plain.  I  will  ask  your  father  when  he 
comes.” 

“  Let  us  try  it  with  a  needle,  Rollo,” 
said  Lucy  ;  “  a  needle  is  of  steel,  I  know.” 

“  Well,  if  mother  will  give  us  one.” 

“Yes,  I  will,”  said  she;  “but  first  tell 
me  what  you  want  to  do.” 

Then  Rollo  and  Lucy  told  her  what 
Jonas  had  said  about  tempering  screws,  and 
about  the  colors  which  bright  steel  would 
take  when  heated.  While  they  were  talk¬ 
ing,  she  was  selecting  a  needle  from  her 
needle-book,  and  at  length  she  handed  it  to 
Rollo. 


AN  EXPERIMENT. 


165 


u  Now,  how  shall  I  keep  it  from  burning 
my  fingers  ?  ”  said  he. 

“  Here,  stick  it  into  this  pencil  for  a  han¬ 
dle  ;  —  no,  I  will  make  a  handle  of  a  piece 
of  paper,”  said  his  mother. 

So  she  took  a  small  strip  of  paper,  and 
folded  it  over  closely,  like  a  lamp-lighter. 
Then  she  stuck  the  needle  into  the  end,  in 
such  a  manner  that  it  projected  beyond  the 
paper  ;  and  then  handed  the  whole  apparatus 
to  Rollo. 

Rollo  held  the  end  of  the  needle  in  the 
flame  of  the  lamp.  In  a  few  moments  the 
point  was  red  hot,  and  when  he  took  it  out 
of  the  lamp,  it  cooled  again  suddenly ;  but 
there  was  a  sort  of  a  dark  band  between  the 
part  which  had  been  hot,  and  the  bright  part 
of  the  needle  which  was  inserted  into  the 
paper. 

“  I  don’t  see  any  straw-color,  or  blue,” 
said  he. 

“Let  me  look,  ”  said  his  mother. 

Mrs.  Holiday  examined  the  dark  band 
more  closely  than  Rollo  had  done. 

“  Yes,”  said  she,  “  I  see  it.  This  dark 
place  has  three  colors.  It  is  straw-color 


166 


AN  EXPERIMENT. 


outside,  towards  the  paper;  next,  blue,  and 
farther  in,  deep  purple.” 

Rollo  and  Lucy  looked,  and  said  they  saw 
it  too  ;  and  they  wanted  to  know  what  made 
all  the  colors  so  near  together. 

Mrs.  Holiday  said  she  did  not  know. 

u  There  is  some  black,  too,”  said  Rollo, 
pointing  to  the  end  of  the  needle  which  had 
been  in  the  flame. 

“I  think  that  is  only  smoke,”  said  Mrs. 
Holiday ;  and  she  wiped  the  needle  with 
a  piece  of  paper,  and  all  the  smoke  came  off, 
but  the  colored  band  remained  firm. 

They  then  tried  the  experiment  again  with 
a  large  darning-needle,  and  they  found  that  it 
succeeded  still  better ;  for  the  several  colors 
were  more  distinct  from  each  other,  and 
each  occupied  a  broader  space. 

After  they  had  examined  the  needles  as 
long  as  they  wished,  Rollo  gave  them  back 
to  his  mother,  and  she  brightened  them  up 
again,  by  rubbing  them  in  her  little  emery- 
bag.  The  emery  in  the  bag  was  the  same 
kind  with  that  used  on  emery-wheels,  and 
it  polished  the  needles  again  at  once,  and 
made  them  look  as  bright  as  before. 


AN  EXPERIMENT. 


167 


After  a  time  Mr.  Holiday  came  in  ;  but, 
before  he  came,  Rollo  and  Lucy  had  for¬ 
gotten  all  about  the  needles,  and  were  al¬ 
most  asleep  upon  a  sofa.  Mr.  Holiday’s 
coming  in  aroused  them,  and  they  wanted 
him  to  tell  them  now  about  fences  as  he  had 
promised  them.  But  he  said  he  could  not 
then,  but  that  they  must  go  to  bed  so  as  to 
be  ready  to  set  out  to-morrow  on  their  return, 
and  perhaps  he  would  tell  them  something 
on  that  subject  then. 

So  they  went  to  bed,  and  slept  soundly 
until  morning. 


168 


FENCES. 


When  they  set  out  the  next  day,  Rollo 
observed  that  they  were  entering  upon  a 
different  road  from  the  one  by  which  they 
had  come.  The  fact  was,  his  father  was 
going  to  return  another  way,  which  was 
shorter,  and  led  through  a  more  cultivated 
country.  When  they  were  fairly  under 
way,  Rollo  asked  his  father  to  begin  telling 
them  about  fences. 

“  Very  well,”  said  he.  “Let  me  see,  1 
was  going  to  tell  you  about  fences,  by  way 
of  proving  that  knowledge  on  the  most  com¬ 
mon  subjects  will  increase  the  pleasure  and 
interest  you  take  in  travelling.” 

“  Yes,  sir,”  said  Lucy. 

“  I  think  you  will  find  that  there  is  some 
interesting  knowledge  to  be  acquired  about 
fences.  In  the  first  place,  what  are  fences 
for  ?  ” 

“  O,  to  separate  one  field  from  another,” 
said  Rollo. 


FENCES. 


169 


“  Why  is  that  necessary  ?  ”  asked  his 
father. 

“  G,  so  that  each  man  may  know  how  far 
his  land  goes.” 

“No,”  said  Mr.  Holiday,  “  that  is  not  the 
reason.  People  could  discern  their  boun¬ 
daries  very  easily  without  making  any 
fences.  The  chief  use  of  fences  is  to  keep 
animals,  such  as  horses,  oxen,  cows,  sheep, 
&c.,  olf  from  cultivated  land.  Now,  in  order 
to  do  this,  any  sort  of  barricade,  about  five 
feet  high,  will  answer,  and  it  may  be  made 
of  any  materials  which  are  most  conveniently 
to  be  obtained.  Now  I  will  mention  some 
of  the  most  common  kinds  of  fences,  and 
describe  each.  They  are  :  — 

1.  The  brush  fence. 

2.  The  log  fence. 

3.  The  stake  fence. 

4.  The  zigzag  fence. 

5.  The  post  and  rail  fence. 

6.  The  board  fence. 

7.  The  stone  fence.” 

“  O,  how  many  fences!  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  The  brush  fence,”  continued  his  father, 
“is  the  easiest  to  make,  and  the  cheapest; 
but  it  can  only  be  made  in  the  woods,  or 
15 


iro 


FENCES. 


where  there  is  a  great  plenty  of  trees  and 
tall  bushes.  They  have  nothing  to  buy  to 
make  it  with,  and  need  no  tools  but  an  axe. 
A  couple  of  men,  with  axes,  go  out  into  the 
woods,  and  cut  down  small,  bushy  trees,  and 
lay  them  along  upon  the  ground,  the  top  of 
one  over  the  butt  of  the  other ;  and  the 
branches  make  a  kind  of  barricade  five  or 
six  feet  high,  that  the  cattle  cannot  get  over. 
If,  in  any  place,  the  branches  are  not  thick 
enough,  or  high  enough,  they  put  other 
smaller  bushes  on,  and  if  necessary  they 
keep  them  up  by  cross-stakes  driven  into  the 
ground.” 

u  How  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  Why,  they  drive  two  stakes  into  the 
ground,  so  that  the  upper  parts  cross  each 
other  like  the  letter  X,  and  then  the  butt 
end  of  the  bush  rests  in  the  crotch.  So  you 
see  they  only  need  axes  to  sharpen  the 
stakes,  and  to  cut  down  the  trees.  They 
generally  have  a  yoke  of  oxen  to  haul  the 
trees  to  their  places  in  the  fence.” 

“I  never  saw  such  a  fence  as  that,”  said 
Rollo. 

“  I  should  like  to  see  one,”  said  Lucy. 

“  They  are  very  common  in  the  woods, 


FENCES. 


171 


but  not  in  the  open  country.  They  cannot 
be  made  except  where  there  is  a  great  plenty 
of  trees.  And  then,  after  a  short  time,  the 
branches  get  dry  and  brittle  ;  and  then  the 
fence  is  easily  broken  through,  and  it  is  very 
combustible,  and  burns  furiously  if  a  fire 
happens  to  get  into  it  from  fires  in  the 
woods.  Still,  it  is  very  commonly  the  way 
that  they  make  the  first  fences  in  the  woods 
on  new  farms. 

“  The  next  kind  of  fence  is  a  log  fence. 
This  is  made  of  logs  one  over  the  other,  and 
is  very  solid  and  durable.” 

“  How  do  they  keep  the  logs  up  ?  ”  said 
Rollo. 

“  In  a  curious  way,”  said  Mr.  Holiday. 
u  They  first  put  one  very  large  log  down 
upon  the  ground,  in  the  direction  of  the 
fence  they  are  going  to  make.  Then  they 
put  down  another,  beyond,  reaching  still 
farther  on,  where  the  fence  is  going  to  be. 
But  these  logs  are  not  placed  exactly  end  to 
end,  but  the  ends  lap  by  one  another  a  little, 
so  that  a  short  log  may  be  placed  across 
from  one  to  the  other.  So  all  the  ground 
logs  have  a  short  log  passing  across  the  ends 
where  they  come  together  and  the  second 


172 


FENCES. 


course  of  logs  rests  on  these  short  logs,  and 
over  these  there  are  other  short  logs  on 
which  the  upper  course  of  logs  rests.” 

“  I  should  think  they  would  roll  off  of  the 
short  logs,”  said  Iloilo’s  mother. 

“  They  cut  deep  notches  or  hollows  in 
the  short  logs,  and  thus  form  beds  for  the 
ends  of  the  long  logs  to  lie  in  securely. 

“  This  makes  a  very  good,  substantial 
fence,  and  a  pretty  cheap  one,  where  they 
have  more  tall  trees  for  logs  than  they  know 
what  to  do  with.” 

“I  never  saw  one,”  said  Rollo. 

“  O,  we  passed  them  day  before  yester¬ 
day  ;  but  you  did  not  notice  them,  I  suppose. 
They  are  not  common  in  the  open  country, 
for  there  the  logs  are  worth  a  great  deal  more 
for  lumber  or  for  firewood.  There  is  one 
great  advantage  which  this  fence  possesses  j 
that  is,  there  is  no  part  underground,  and 
therefore,  it  does  not  rot  easily. 

“Next  comes  the  rail  fence.  When  trees 
and  bushes  grow  scarce,  the  farmer  has  to 
economize  his  materials,  and  so  he  splits  up 
his  logs  into  rails ,  as  they  are  called,  and 
then  they  will  go  a  great  deal  further.  He 
generally  gets  cedar  for  this  purpose,  both 


FENCES. 


173 


because  it  splits  easily  into  long  clefts,  and 
also  because  it  is  very  durable. 

“  Then  there  must  be  some  contrivance 
for  keeping  the  rails  up,  and  there  are  several 
plans.  One  way  is  to  lay  them,  like  a  log 
fence,  with  short  pieces  across  the  ends ;  but 
this  is  not  a  good  way.” 

“  Why  not  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“  The  rails  are  not  heavy  enough  to  keep 
themselves  firm  in  their  places,  as  the  logs 
are.  So  they  have  other  modes.  There,” 
continued  Mr.  Holiday,  pointing  over  into  a 
field,  “there  is  one  way.” 

The  children  looked,  and  saw  a  fence 
made  of  rails  laid  in  a  zigzag  form,  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  ends  of  the  rails  at  the 
corners  were  laid  across  one  another,  so  as 
to  be  supported  without  any  post. 

“  That  is  a  very  common  way  of  making 
a  rail  fence,”  said  Mr.  Holiday,  “and  there 
are  two  advantages  in  it.  One  is,  it  saves 
the  trouble  of  making  posts,  and  the  other 
is,  no  part  of  it  is  under  ground  to  rot 
away.” 

“  Why  don’t  they  always  make  rail  fences 
so,  then  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 

“Because,”  said  his  father,  “in  the  first 
15  * 


174 


FENCES. 


place  it  requires  more  rails,  on  account  of 
the  crooked  direction,  than  would  be  neces¬ 
sary  for  a  straight  fence  ;  and  then,  besides, 
it  takes  up  a  great  deal  of  ground.  For  they 
can  only  plough  and  cultivate  up  to  the 
outer  angles  of  the  fence  on  each  side, 
which  leaves  a  space  of  several  feet  be¬ 
tween,  useless. 

“  A  better  way,  therefore,  to  make  the 
rail  fence  is  to  put  posts  into  the  ground, 
and  then  cut  holes  through  the  posts,  and 
put  the  ends  of  the  rails  into  the  holes.5’ 

“  Why  don’t  they  nail  them  to  the  posts  ?  ” 
asked  Rollo. 

“  Because  the  rails  are  so  large,  and  irreg¬ 
ular  in  shape,  that  it  would  be  very  difficult 
to  nail  them  ;  and  the  cost  of  the  nails,  too, 
would  be  considerable. 

“  Board  fences  come  next.  When  the 
timber  of  a  country  becomes  more  scarce,  so 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  get  rails,  they  use 
boards.” 

“  Yes,  sir,”  said  Rollo  ;  “  and  they  can  nail 
the  boards.” 

“Yes,  they  put  posts  down  sometimes, 
and  nail  the  boards  to  the  posts ;  and  some¬ 
times  they  drive  stakes  down  and  support 


FENCES.  175 

the  boards  by  withs.  Did  you  ever  notice 
a  board  fence  made  with  withs  ? ” 
u  No,  sir,”  said  Rollo. 
u  They  drive  down  two  stakes  where  the 
ends  of  one  length  of  the  fence  are  to  come  ; 
one  stake  is  on  one  side  of  the  fence,  and 
the  other  upon  the  other.  Then,  after  put¬ 
ting  in  the  lower  boards,  they  bind  in  a  with , 
made  of  long,  slender  twigs,  directly  over  the 
upper  edge  of  the  lower  board,  in  a  very 
curious  way,  so  as  to  bind  the  two  stakes 
together,  and  also  to  furnish  a  support  for 
the  second  board.  The  third  or  upper  board 
is  supported  in  the  same  manner.  Thus 
they  save  all  expense  for  nails,  and  they  do 
not  have  to  dig  post  holes ;  for  stakes  that 
are  sharpened  and  driven  down  with  an  axe 
will  answer. 

“  A  more  substantial  way  is  to  set  posts, 
and  nail  the  boards  to  the  posts ;  and  then 
they  generally  nail  a  narrow  piece  up  and 
down  the  posts  so  as  to  cover  and  conceal 
the  ends  of  the  boards.” 

By  the  time  Mr.  Holiday  had  got  so  far  as 
this,  in  his  descriptions,  the  children  were 
on  the  watch  for  the  different  kinds  of  fences, 
as  they  passed  along  the  road.  They  ob- 


176 


FENCES. 


served  rail  fences,  and  board  lences  of  vari¬ 
ous  kinds,  and  were  looking  out  very  sharply 
for  every  peculiarity  in  the  mode  of  fixing 
them.  There  were  a  good  many  stone  walls, 
and  presently  Rollo  said  that  his  father  had 
not  told  them  about  walls. 

“No,”  said  he,  “I  was  coming  to  that 
next.  Walls  are  the  best  kind  of  fences, 
though  they  cost  the  most.” 

“  O  father,”  said  Rollo,  “  1  should  not 
think  such  old  stones  would  cost  any  thing 
at  all.” 

“  The  stones  themselves  do  not  cost  any 
thing  —  it  is  the  time  and  labor  in  hauling 
them,  and  laying  them  in  the  wall.  When 
the  stones  are  all  ready  on  the  land,  it  is  an 
excellent  plan  to  make  stone  wall.  It  will 
last  a  great  many  years.” 

“  I  should  think  it  would  last  forever,” 
said  Rollo’s  mother. 

“  The  frost  heaves  it  a  little  every  year, 
until  at  length  it  gets  out  of  shape  at  the 
top,  and  finally  tumbles  down.  You  some¬ 
times  see  an  old  stone  wall,  by  the  side  of 
the  road,  running  in  and  out  like  a  zigzag  rail 
fence.  It  is  the  work  of  the  frost  heaving 
away  upon  the  foundation,  every  year  for 


FENCES. 


177 


perhaps  fifty  years.  They  can  prevent  this, 
however,  by  making  a  foundation.  To  get 
a  good  foundation,  they  dig  a  long  trench,  as 
deep  as  the  frost  goes,  and  then  fill  it  up 
with  loose  stones.  The  frost  then  cannot 
heave  it,  and  it  stands  firm  and  solid,  per¬ 
haps  for  a  century.” 

Rollo  and  Lucy  both  acknowledged  that 
they  had  been  very  much  interested  in  this 
lecture  on  fences,  and  they  took  a  great  deal 
of  interest  and  pleasure  in  observing  the 
various  kinds  of  fences,  all  the  rest  of  the 
day.  Mr.  Holiday  told  them  that  that  would 
be  the  effect  of  knowledge  on  all  subjects 
whatever.  a  Learn,  therefore,  all  you  can, 
children,  on  all  subjects.  For  even  if  you 
never  have  to  turn  your  knowledge  to  prac¬ 
tical  account,  the  possession  of  it  will  often 
be  the  means  of  giving  you  pleasure.” 

Jonas  had  no  time  to  tell  the  children  any 
more  stories  during  this  journey,  for  the 
whole  party  soon  reached  home.  The  af¬ 
ternoon  before  they  arrived,  however,  when 
they  stopped  at  a  tavern  for  the  last  time, 
Rollo  and  Lucy  were  standing  at  the  door, 
impatient  for  the  horses  to  finish  their  oats, 


178 


FENCES. 


so  that  they  might  go  on,  for  they  were 
eager  to  get  home  again.  They  saw  Jonas 
coming  out  of  the  barn. 

u  Are  the  horses  ready  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 
u  Not  quite  yet,”  said  Jonas. 

“  What  are  they  eating  ?  ”  said  Rollo. 
u  A  peck  of  oats  apiece,”  Jonas  replied. 

(( A  peck !  O,  how  many !  They’ll  get 
some  grass  when  we  get  home,  won’t  they, 
Jonas?”  -  j 

u  Yes,”  said  Jonas ;  “we  shall  turn  them 
out  to  pasture  at  once.” 

u  Why  don’t  you  put  them  into  a  pasture, 
here,  at  the  taverns,  as  we  go  along,  and  so 
let  them  have  grass  instead  of  oats?  ” 
u  O,  because,”  said  Jonas. 

“  Because  what  ?  ”  asked  Lucy. 
u  Why,  it  would  take  them  longer  to 
make  a  dinner  of  grass.  And  besides,  they 
might  jump  over  the  fence ;  and  then  what 
should  we  do  ?  ” 

If  it  was  a  good  rail  fence  of  five  bars, 
they  couldn’t,”  said  Rollo. 

11  How  came  you  to  know  about  rail 
fences?”  said  Jonas. 

“  Father  told  us  all  about  fences,  the  other 
day,”  replied  Rollo. 


FENCES. 


179 


“  Did  he  ?  ” 

“  Yes  ;  and  when  I  get  home,  I  am  going 
to  make  some  little  fences.” 

“So  I  would,”  said  Jonas.  “You  might 
turn  your  little  sand-garden,  in  the  corner  of 
the  yard,  into  a  farm,  and  have  a  pasture, 
and  mowing  field,  and  corn-field,  and  garden, 
and  then  enclose  all  the  different  fields  with 
different  kinds  of  fences.” 

“  So  we  can,”  said  Rollo,  clapping  his 
hands. 

“  No,  we  can’t,”  said  Lucy  ;  “  we  can’t 
make  the  little  fences.” 

“Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “I  think  you  might. 
You  might  make  very  good  ones  with  a 
knife  and  a  gimlet.” 

“  What  should  we  do  for  boards,”  said 
Lucy,  “  to  make  a  board  fence  ?  ” 

“  O,  we  could  split  up  shingles,”  said 
Rollo. 

“Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “  and  you  could  use 
twine  for  withes.  I  can  show  you  how  to 
put  it  on.” 

“  And  we  can  make  a  stone  wall  very 
easily,”  said  Lucy,  “for  we  can  pick  up  the 
stones  all  about  the  yard.” 

“Yes,”  said  Jonas,  “though  it  is  not  very 


180 


FENCES. 


easy  to  lay  stone  wall  so  that  it  will  stand 
firm.  Bnt  I  must  go  and  see  if  the  horses 
are  ready.  ’ 5 

So  Jonas  went  back  again  to  the  barn, 
and  the  children  determined  that,  the  very 
next  day  after  they  got  home,  they  would 
begin  their  farm,  and  put  upon  it  models  of 
as  many  different  kinds  of  fences  as  they 
could  make  ;  and  they  thought  that,  with 
Jonas’s  help,  it  would  be  a  good  many. 
When  they  got  into  the  carryall,  Kollo  asked 
his  father  what  he  thought  of  the  plan  ;  and 
he  said  he  thought  it  was  an  excellent  one  ; 
he  even  gave  them  some  encouragement 
that  perhaps  he  would  help  them  a  little 
himself. 

Rollo  and  Lucy  continued  to  talk  about 
this  plan,  until  they  reached  the  end  of  the 
journey. 


THE  END. 


RARE  BOOK 
COLLECTION 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINA 
AT 

CHAPEL  HILL 

Ticknor 

PS1000 

.A8 

J63 

1839 


